Maze of the Mind
by Lady of the Lily
Summary: Nicole Marron was a young aspiring actress who was good friends with Sarah Williams, virtually inseparable. A few years after Sarah completed the Labyrinth Jareth returns to take her back. Nicole races against the clock to save her friend. More K than T.
1. Chapter 1

*Curtain rises*

Hi everyone, this is my first Labyrinth piece and I thought I should open this up. This is more of a Prologue than a chapter, please review I can only improve with criticism and thus criticism of all kinds are welcome. Now on with the show!

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Chapter 1: Introducitons

I have known Sarah for, well, forever. At least it feels that way. When I first met her I thought I was looking into a mirror except my eyes were more of a light brown and her hair was a few shades darker than mine and a few personality differences. Ever since we first met in English we have been inseparable. This would have been when we were about fourteen or so.

My parents had passed away when I was three. I had been left to the care of my grandparents who lived just outside of Los Angeles. Sarah and her family had acted like a real family to me. You know, like the perfect families you see on the television and I even looked the part. Sarah and I would go to the park, read fairy tales, get dressed up into princess-like dresses and just spend hours playing and having fun. We would constantly lose track of time, sometimes when Sarah and I walked back to her house my Grandmother would be there, holding a cup of coffee and talking to Karen, Sarah's stepmother.

Karen was always nice to me and I think she tried to understand my predicament. The closest thing I had to parents was my Grandparents, and despite their love and affection it just wasn't the same. Karen would treat me like a daughter so I would be praised and punished just the same as Sarah. Sarah would complain about her and her stereotypical evil stepmother attributes and I could also relate to her on that. Karen tried her hardest to act as a mother to Sarah, sometimes she tried too hard. This annoyed Sarah so much at times that she would come over to my place to seek refuge "from that evil, wicked stepmother that tries to act like my mom". It was more of a way for her to vent and calm down than seeking refuge from Karen.

When we turned fifteen (our birthdays were about a month apart from each other) we started High School. It was so much fun at first, the crazy hairstyles, odd clothing and the air filled with everyone trying to find their place in the jungle known as the social classes. I wasn't really bothered by it because Sarah and I were good friends and nothing was going to stop that any time soon. Sarah turned more towards her love for writing stories and I worked my magic as best as I could on the stage. I was an actress and my love of the stage had been a great part of me for as long as I can remember.

Now, my grandparents we totally okay with any random hair colors I came home wearing just so long as it looked normal by the time we had an event or something called for a more neutral look than my brown hair with blood red or pink, or purple streaks. Just so long as it wasn't permanent or too outrageous they were fine (so like, no piercings, decent clothes etc). In my opinion I preferred my jeans and random printed tees to what the other girls were wearing at school like stilettos, miniskirts and tank tops cut too low to be deemed decent in any part of the world.

When I think back to when I was sixteen, my mind can't help but wander back to that one night which seemed to change a lot of things. Sarah didn't want to babysit her younger brother, Toby while Karen and her father went out on a date. When her parents had left she had called me up to see whether I would join her as I didn't get to go out to the park with her earlier. I could go, I had a science paper to write, lines to memorize and so much math and history homework that would cause one's head to explode. It was basically just homework that had been keeping me away, and that night unlike any other I couldn't talk my way out of doing it because my grandparents knew I had heaps to do. I was a good girl at school (well, besides my choice in hair colors which gave me a whole rocker look), I did my homework, studied and I was in as many plays as my schedule could allow.

I didn't hear anything again from her for the rest of the night after I told her that I couldn't come over to help her with Toby. I didn't think anything of it at the time and got back to my homework that seemed to be piling up even higher after I finished one assignment after the next. It wasn't until I saw her the next day when we met up down at the park like we usually did on a Saturday that I noticed a change. Sarah seemed to be disconnected from the games we played and she didn't seem to be as imaginative as she had been the day before at school. It was like the one true friend I had for the longest time, changed overnight from a teen with a wild imagination to something more of an adult.

Over time we stopped going down to the park to play fairy tales but to talk about movies stories and people from school. We still read over the books and plays we had recited while playing around in our princess costumes but not as often as we had only month before.

It was at my seventeenth birthday I had realized how much she had changed. When we were fourteen and playing in the park one day I spotted a little red leather bound book with _The Labyrinth_ written in gold text across the front. Sarah and I had read it over like another one of our fairytales and when it came time to decide who would keep it, I let her have it because it seemed as if she had enjoyed reading the book a great deal and I could always borrow it from her if I wanted. When the time came to open up presents I opted for Sarah's first. I unwrapped the light brown paper and the bubble wrap to find that little, red leather bound book. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw what had happened. She loved that book to pieces and even had most of it memorized to heart. There was wear marks on her favorite pages, something wasn't right for her to give this to me.

I spent days observing her behavior to understand what had caused such a change in her. The only difference I had noticed was the more mature way she looked at things around her and the less time she spent with her head in fantasy books. One day she asked me to read over one of her works for something she was hoping to publish, she knows when it comes to this sort of stuff I give an honest opinion (well, as honest as I can be sometimes but she is an awesome writer) that's when I began to understand. It was about a character that is identical to her who wishes away her brother and has to run the labyrinth in thirteen hours to prevent him from being turned into a goblin and so they can all go home. The experiences this character had to deal with can explain Sarah's personality change and the story seems so real.

After reading over the work and editing and critiquing it as much as I felt necessary I gave it back to her the next day when we were at the park. By the time we had to be going back to our own places I couldn't just sit there and watch my friend act so differently and I confronted her, no idea what to say at all.

"Sarah, are you okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, of course I am. What did u think of the story?" She replied.

"It's good. Very good actually, and it seems so real. Where did you get the idea to write such a story? It's not like others that you have written."

I couldn't help it, I had to bring up the fact the main character in the story was based off her and it could have something to do with how she has been acting of late, especially since my birthday. From her facial expression though, I was right. If there was one thing I knew about Sarah, it was when I said something she knew was true and also when she wanted to be left alone. Right now, it was both.

"Just a silly dream I had. Do you mind if we talk about this later? I have some work to do for Mr. Pev's class." Sarah said walking away in the direction of her house. I wasn't going to try and get any more information out of her today.

We made our way back to her house and my Grandmother was waiting there with her cup of coffee, as usual to take me home.

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Don't forget to review! The more reviews the sooner I post, and the better the story gets.


	2. Chapter 2

*Curtain rises*

Hi everyone! If you're reading this it means there is another installment of Maze of the Mind! This chapter is way better, I promise because stuff happens. Also, I apologize that it may sound cut off at the end but I wrote this whole story in one word document, not in individual chapters like I should have. Also, I decided to post this story up sooner because a prologue shouldn't count as a chapter in my opinion I am trying to decide whether to update every 2 or 3 weeks. If I get at least one review I will post up chapters every 2 weeks for sure. Why, you may ask? Because this is my second Fan Fiction piece and still no comments/reviews (yes, I know you're out there) and school is getting even more competitive with the end of the year reaching up way too fast for my liking.

Also, I would like to take the time to give a public apology to Jareth-GK for getting mad at him. This whole thing going on between Sarah-notGQ and Jareth-GK is hilarious and I can't wait to see more.

Anyways, without delay, here is the second installment of Maze of the Mind!

_I'll keep you my dirty little secret, don't tell anyone or you'll be just another regret. My Dirty Little Secret, Who has to know?_

I woke up and hit my alarm clock a few times to stop the song from playing. _I just want to sleep, why can't school start in another hour? _Don't get me wrong, I like All American Rejects but I just wanted more sleep. Today wasn't like any normal day though, today was Sarah's seventeenth birthday.

I begrudgingly hopped out of bed and walked over to my bed room door which had my clothes that I set out last night on the door. I slipped into my black skinny jeans and white top (it kind of looks medieval in away, with its short poufy sleeves and ties up at the front). I accessorized my outfit with a thick black belt and my "cat bell" necklace. I don't even know how it got that name.

I ran into my bathroom and put on my makeup, just the usual light foundation and mascara. Then I attempted to fix the wild mess on my head called my hair. I didn't have time to straighten it so I let it lay around my shoulders with its slight waves.

6:40 am the clock read. Perfect, just enough time to grab a bagel and pack up my books. I grabbed my European history text book and my other notebooks that was scattered around the room. I briskly walked down stairs to find my grandmother had already put a bagel out on the kitchen counter and my lunch was in a paper bag right next to it. I picked up all my books and lunch and stuffed them into my bag, hoping I wouldn't purée my lunch in the process. Then yelled out a good bye to my grandparents and put the bagel into my mouth and ran out the door. I wasn't going to be late again for carpool.

The carpool flew past and I was being dropped off, my bagel had been finished and it was delicious. I picked up my iPod and tried to find a decent song to listen to before I had to go off to drama. I only had 10 minutes at the most before the first bell will ring. I turned on around the world by daft punk hoping that could provide me with enough energy to get me to drama.

The first bell rang as soon as I got to the quad. Drats, I'm not going to get to see Sarah's new haircut until Creative Writing this afternoon, unless I can get out of Midsummer's rehearsal at lunch time. Considering though that we are a week away from opening night and my double cast counterpart for Tatania can't make today's lunch rehearsal because she has a biology test to make up.

I walked into drama and sat down in my assigned seat waiting for Mr. Elben to begin his class. I took off my iPod and put it back into my bag as the second bell rang. I couldn't help but laugh when I saw some people trying to sneak in with their coffee in hand.

"Today, class we are going to work on the lover's scenes. All else are dismissed to work on other homework. Please take time to read over your lines and blocking." Mr. Elben said taking attendance on his paper.

I took the two hours we had in class today and used it to do my European History notes for the next chapter. After about four pages of notes and an hour of work, I gave up and walked to the drama class room to take a nap considering how tired I was this morning and that during lunch time's rehearsal we are probably going to work on Titania and Oberon scenes. I pulled three plastic chairs (of the school kind) together so I could lie down and try to get some sleep. I plugged in my iPod and turned on some Coldplay songs as I drifted into my slumber.

"Wake up sleepy head!" I opened my eyes to see Lauren standing over me.

"How long have we got left of class?" I asked still half asleep.

"You have about a minute left, I didn't want you to be left here during advisory or for Ben to come in and attack you with a sharpie." she said.

"Ok, was I attacked with a sharpie?" I said getting up picking up some of my books and put them back into my bag in a rush. My next class, Advisory is across campus.

"No" the first bell rang to symbolize passing period had started. "I'll see you at lunch!" Laura said returning back to the theatre.

I flung my backpack over my shoulder and make my way to the next class. I turned on my iPod to listen to "Dancing with Myself" by Billy Idol (or Generation X). After 5 minutes of walking I arrived at my advisory class and sat down. Ken sat down next to me and wanted to start to play a hand game. I haven't played it since kindergarten and can't remember what it's called.

"Have you done Mr. Kurtz homework yet?" Ken asked.

"Yeah, I did it last night. It took me an hour and a half to finish it all. Did someone forget to do their homework?" I said with a smile. Ken usually did his homework but every month or so he would forget.

"Yes... Can I just have a small look?" Ken asked using his puppy dog eyes.

"Don't embarrass yourself by putting on your puppy dog eyes. I'm not letting you copy my homework." I said moving my bag away from him so he couldn't try to steal it.

"Why? Just one look."

"For you punishment of stealing my food on Friday I will not let you copy. Besides, I spent ages doing that and if I have to suffer you can suffer too."

It was true, I didn't like my Physics class and Mr. Kurtz acted more like a drill Sergeant than a teacher. Ken often complained that his only joy was to make us suffer. I doubt it, but he did assign a lot of time consuming homework but it was bearable.

I sat back and got back to work on my notes for Euro. I didn't have that class till tomorrow and the notes aren't even a part of an assignment but it helps when it comes to the tests he conducts. I worked on it for the remainder of the 20 minute class then packet up my books and made my way over to Mr. Kurtz class.

Mr. Kurtz's class was over on the other side of the quad so it took me only a few minutes to get there. When I arrived I took me seat at the back of the classroom and took out my homework to turn into the bucket at the front of the room. The back of the class was a lonely place to sit since I was the only sitting back there.

When the second bell rang he locked the door to his classroom and took attendance. There was a loud banging coming from the door from the students that were locked outside; it was a cruel but effective way to stop people from being late to his class. He walked over and opened the door to let the students do their walk of shame to their seats and his lecture began.

I robotically took notes but I really didn't feel like I was paying attention, his lectures were always so monotone and tiresome. I couldn't help but let my mind wander and considering I sit in the back, I should be safe from him calling on me. My mind wandered to that story Sarah gave me to read, about the goblins and labyrinth and the king with an odd fashion style, the Goblin King.

"Ms. Marron, could you please tell me what the Kinetic Energy of the problem would be?" Mr. Kurtz said looking over in my direction noticing my lack of awareness.

"I'm sorry sir but could you please repeat the question?" I ask as nicely as I can.

"Please see me after class Ms. Marron."

I am in some deep trouble now. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Why did I have to let my mind wander and think about that story? What am I going to say to get out of this one? I'll blame it on sleep and the pressure of the show. He has to believe that, he saw me walking around in my costume all day for the previews in the assemblies.

Mr. Kurtz continued on with the lecture and handed out the assignment papers due on Friday (so we get 3 days to work on them) which took everyone to sort out and pack up by the lunch bell. I took an extra long amount of time to pack up so it didn't seem as awkward to just be standing there in the back of the room waiting for everyone to leave. It's show time.

"Nicole, I thought you knew better than to daydream in my class." Mr. Kurtz said in his matter-of-fact voice.

"I'm sorry, I just haven't been getting much sleep lately considering Midsummer's is going to open soon and rehearsals have been running for an extra hour or two after they are scheduled to finish. I promise it won't happen again." I said in a good girl voice, I really didn't want to have to spend my after school time writing lines or cleaning the gum off the tables _shudders._

"You should organize yourself better than that. You decided to join up for the show knowing this could happen. Considering that this has been the first time I have caught you, consider this a warning because next time I will have you writing a 600 word essay on the importance of physics in daily life." he said trying to be as intimidating as possible.

"I'm very sorry sir, it won't happen again."

"Ok, you are excused."

I walked out of the classroom with a smile on my face. If it wasn't for drama I would end up like one of his other victims of day dreaming, a 1,000 word essay on the importance of physics dye by 5pm. I walked over to the theatre for the second time today to join the rest of the cast if Midsummer's. 

Please don't forget to review; it's the difference between 2 or 3 weeks per postage. Comments are always welcome!


	3. Chapter 3

*Curtain Rises*

Lady of the Lily: Well hello there everyone! Welcome to another installment of Maze of the Mind. I would like to take this time to thank Her Royal Nonsense for her review. Anyways, without further delay here is the next installment of Maze of the Mind!

I walked in to see the stage was set for Queen Tatania's lullaby. Yeah, I'm not going to be getting out of rehearsal today.

"Good, Tatania's here, we need the fairies to work on the lullaby on stage so it can be choreographed right." Mr. Elben said from the back row next to the box.

I put down my bag and walked up on the stage near the staircase to make my entrance. I did a few warm ups and when the lights were at their cue, I made my way up the stairs.

"Come, now a roundel and a fairy song;  
Then, for the third part of a minute, hence;  
Some to kill cankers in the musk-rose buds,  
Some war with rere-mice for their leathern wings,  
To make my small elves coats, and some keep back  
The clamorous owl that nightly hoots and wonders  
At our quaint spirits. Sing me now asleep;  
then to your offices and let me rest." I said lying down on a bunch of material that is Tatania's bed.  
"You spotted snakes with double tongue,  
Thorny hedgehogs be not seen  
Newts and blindworms do no wrong  
Come not near our fairy queen  
Philomel with melody  
Singing our sweet lullaby  
Lull lull lull a by lull lull lull la lullaby  
Never harm nor spell nor charm  
Come not near our lady nigh  
So goodnight with lullaby  
Weaving spiders come not near  
Hence you long legged spinners hence  
Beetles black approach not near  
Worm nor snail do no offense  
Philomel with melody  
Singing our sweet lullaby  
Lull lull lull a by lull lull lull la lullaby  
Never harm nor spell nor charm  
Come not near our lady nigh  
So goodnight with lullaby." the fairies sang then made their exit.

My whole lunch time was this one scene, over and over. I'm not complaining, it had to be done but it just grew tiresome considering lunch goes for half an hour.

When lunch had ended I walked off to creative writing. Well it was more of a brisk walk than a walk considering creative writing is on the other side of campus than the theatre and I wanted to wish Sarah a happy birthday and to see this new haircut of hers. I managed to arrive with enough time to put my bag down and talk to Sarah.

"Happy Birthday!" I said as I came up from behind to give her a big hug.

"Hey! Nicole! Thanks so much." she said turning around to reveal her short (shoulder length) hair curved around her face and a side fringe to top it all off. It actually looks better than if one were to describe it.

"Oh, before I forget, I have a present for you! It is the complete collection of my favorite plays and others such as the Cherry Orchard, Romeo and Juliet, Spiders Web, Hamlet, Midsummer's Night Dream, the Mikado and many more." I said handing over 6 books.

"I thought you said you didn't like Romeo and Juliet." Mr. H said walking over to the white board as class was about to start.

"In my opinion I believe when it was first written it would have been considered an amazing show filled with passion and emotion, but now that so many other people have used the same themes and problems in their own works it leaves the show boring considering one knows the ending before it has begun because it is always the basis of something we have read, watched or heard about before." I said taking my seat and getting my lunch out of my bag.

"Why does everyone eat in this class? You just came back from lunch." Mr. H said staring at me and the others that decided to follow in my direction.

"Today's lunch practice was one of my scenes so I haven't really had anything to eat all day besides a piece of a bagel." I said between bites of my peanut butter sandwich.

Mr. H began to hand out assignment papers about an upcoming creative piece we would have to write to demonstrate the multiple writing styles we have learnt from reading other works of literature so "to become better writers you must become better readers" as Mr. H would put it. I read over the assignment to see that it was a fantasy work with hints of romance entwined. Yeah, every time I try to write something like that I find myself calling it stupid and starting over from scratch, this is not going to be an easy assignment for me. Sarah could definitely use her new story for this though of course with a few tweaks to have more of a romance feel between the king guy and the young girl who is trying to save her brother.

Mr. H finished talking about the assignment and there was about 10 minutes left of the class which he gave us to pack up and talk. I walked over to Sarah's desk with my bag in my hand.

"You still coming over this afternoon?" she asked.

"Of course I am I'm not going to miss my friend's sleepover." I replied

"You have any idea what kind of story you're going to write yet for the assignment?"

"Not a clue. You should use that new story I just read over, with a few more romance alterations Mr. H would definitely give u an A+ on the assignment."

"Who am I going to have the romance between, Ludo and Samantha?"

"No, I was thinking maybe Samantha and the King guy. You already have a masquerade scene and everything written in." There was a look of horror on Sarah's face; there is definitely an element of truth to that piece.

"Yeah, I don't think I'll use that work. In my opinion the Goblin king gives me the creeps." I couldn't help but laugh in response.

The bell rang and Sarah and I said our goodbyes till later this afternoon. I walked over to the front gates of the school where my carpool was just arriving. I hopped in and the conversations began. I didn't really feel like joining in and my mind began to think about what I could write about for this essay. Nothing, nothing was coming to my head. Usually by now I have to pick between four or five different stories to write about but today, my mind was coming up blank. This is not going to be an easy essay.

When I arrived at my house and waved goodbye to my carpool I walked inside and put my bag down next to the kitchen counter. I walked over to the lounge room and turned on the TV to waste time and hopefully find inspiration for this story.

Well, what do you think? Questions, comments are always welcome! Also I was considering changing the title of this to something else, any suggestions?


	4. Chapter 4

Hye guys, sorry this is so late. Just got word that I'm moving again so a few of my chapters may be late (but hopefully not this late). Umm, ok so I tried uploading this chapter before but i dont think it did properly. Yay, chem is almost over. Only a week to go of school and summer I will spend writing this story as well as packing.

This chapter is dedicated to the owl that has been hanging outside my window for the past few months (well, after spring break) and to peaches, which are back in season here.

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"Hi Nicole, I'm home. Are you ready to go, got everything packed?" My grandma said coming through the door.

"Yes Grandma. I take it Granddad isn't going to be home for when I go?" I said running up the stairs to pick up my overnight bag.

"He's busy at work. You go over to Sarah's house all the time anyway; if you want you can call around 7pm when he gets home. Come on now, we're going to be late."

"We're going to be 10 minutes early if we leave now."

"You're never on time unless you're 10 minutes early."

"Fine, ok, I'm ready now." I said walking through the door and hopping into Grandma's car.

It was a quiet ride to Sarah's house, she didn't live too far but Grandma didn't like to walk the distance and wouldn't let me walk by myself with my overnight bag. Always afraid something horrible is going to happen but it was also getting dark. We arrived with 10 minutes to spare and I hopped out of the car and kissed Grandma Goodbye, she didn't need to walk me in considering being seventeen I should be able to take care of myself.

I put my hand up to knock the door but Sarah had opened it before I could knock. She must have heard us pull into the drive way.

"Nicole! Come in, I was wondering how much longer I would have to wait before we could watch Van Helsing." She said with a smile.

"What are you complaining about? I'm 10 minutes early, and you wouldn't have dared to watch that movie without me!" I said.

"Yes, I have learnt from last time and I wouldn't want to miss your comments on Dracula and all the other characters, especially in the masquerade scene."

We walked up to Sarah's room to watch the movie. The inflatable mattress was already on the floor and there was popcorn waiting for us at near the TV. I put down my bag and hopped onto the bed, grabbing the popcorn in the process. Sarah ran over to get the remote and close the door to start the movie.

"Hey, save some popcorn for me! You ate all of it last time!" She said sitting down next to me.

"Well, you were the one that let me hold onto it for the whole movie."

"You ate it before the bad guy was introduced into the story last time we were watching Van Helsing."

"Ok, a; his name is Dracula, b; he just wanted to have kids so how does that make him a bad guy, c; He's introduced into the story in like, the first scene d; it was movie theatre flavored popcorn and e; I'm running out of alphabet here."

We watched the whole movie and only had to stop three or four times to get more popcorn. Karen came in to see how we are doing for food once or twice and by our third raid of the kitchen she told us to just to make all the popcorn up and take it upstairs and take the bottles of soda too. It was really funny but hey, we're still teenagers and enjoying it. The movie ended at around 9pm and I called back home to say goodnight to my grandparents. We weren't going to sleep anytime soon though.

After all that, we snacked on the food we took from the kitchen and started to read some of the plays and books that we used to act out as kids. Then I decided to take out my surprise, I brought over The Labyrinth.

"Do you want to read The Labyrinth? We haven't read over it together in such a long time." I said holding up the book towards her,

"Not really." She replied.

"What's wrong, you used to love this book ever since I found it in the park?"

"Ok, I'll tell you. Ever since that night that you couldn't come over to help me babysit Toby things have been different. That story I wrote, the one you just read and edited for me and suggested I use for the creative writing essay is true. Wait, I have proof before you think I'm crazy. I wished away Toby and the goblin king came and took him away, I ran the labyrinth in the 13 hours. Samantha is me; I based her off my experience."

I stared at her in disbelief, I couldn't help it. I had always dreamed that the fairytales I read would come true and now there is a chance they are. Sarah had changed and become more mature since that night, but could all this be true? We had never lied to each other, sure we may have not told the whole truth at times or just not say anything when we don't want to talk about it, but we don't flat out lie to each other.

"What is this proof?"

"watch." she said walking over the vanity "Hoggle, Sir Didymus, and Ludo I need you."

Three figures slowly began to appear on the mirror as if they were sitting on Sarah's bed. They looked exactly as Sarah had described in the story.

"Who is this fine young lady?" sir Didymus said looking over at me.

"Fwriend?" Ludo asked

"Guys, this is Nicole and she is a friend. Don't be frightened Nicole..." I cut Sarah off.

"Sir Didymus. Wow, they're real. Wow, all my life I had dreamed fairytales would come to life and now they have. I must be dreaming." Sarah walked over to me and pinched my shoulder then stamped on my foot.

"Ouch!"

"Just showing you that you're not dreaming this, it's real. Every single bit of this is real."

"The Goblin King is real too?"

"Unfortunately, how is Jareth anyways?"

"I would be careful talkin' 'bout him if I were you. He can see who is talkin' 'bout him through the crystal ball. But considering he has now power over ya, he seems unusually happy and I think he's up to sumthing." Hoggle said.

"You must be Ludo, Hoggle and Sir Didymus. This is really amazing. What is the Labyrinth like? What is the Underground like? Is the Bog of eternal stench that bad?" my mind full of questions.

"Did Sarah not explain? The labyrinth is the same as you left so Sarah can fill you in on that one, same with the Underground. Just a few weeks ago pomegranate trees have been growing in the forest and are working out to be a great source of income for the Goblin Kingdom. The Bog of Eternal Stench is not bad at all; I do not understand why everyone must complain about it." Sir Didymus said.

"The bog is awful, if you step one foot into it you'll smell bad the rest of your life." Hoggle corrected sir Didymus.

Foot steps could be near coming up the stairs. Hoggle, Sir Didymus and Ludo disappeared back into the mirror and Karen walked into the room.

"Still acting out scenes from your books? It's nearly 11:30; you should both get to sleep. Your grandmother is going to be furious at me if you come home exhausted because you two have spent the whole night reading and talking."

"Okay Karen, we'll be going to sleep soon. Sorry to keep you up." I say apologetically.

Karen left the room not too long after and Sarah went off to go have a shower. I flicked through the Labyrinth and reading random pages trying to fathom how this book could be real.

"Hey, can I have some privacy to get changed?" Sarah said waking into the room in a towel.

"Sure, I might go downstairs to find some more food we can snack on during the night. Could I have a shower tomorrow morning? I don't want to wake up Toby or your parents, Karen seemed quite tired when she checked up on us."

"Sure, good luck finding more food, I think we did a good job of clearing out the kitchen of all foods considered unhealthy." she said with a smile.

I walked into the kitchen and began to rummage through the cupboards. It wasn't until five or so minutes later when I found some pretzels, yum. I walked back up stairs to find Sarah's door open and she was finished getting dressed. She was watching SpongeBob on TV. SpongeBob, I haven't seen that show in ages.

"I found pretzels."

"No thanks, I feel so full after we finished off all the popcorn in the house and the skittles and starbursts."

"I still don't know how I let you end up with all the red skittles, my favorite color."

"I don't know. I think there is only like 3 minutes left of this episode, I miss watching SpongeBob."

We sat together watching SpongeBob until the episode ended. I'm not really sure what the episode was about because I only got to see that last few minutes but it was good. I wonder if SpongeBob is real too. Nah, just because one story is real doesn't mean all the others are too.

"Hey Sarah, I'm going to grab a glass of water. Those pretzels made me really thirsty. You can go to sleep." I said walking out if the room, it was true the pretzels really did make me thirsty.

I walked down stairs to get my glass of water. I found a plastic cup which I assumed was Toby's and filled it up with the water in the fridge. I drank it down quickly and poured myself another one but drank it down slower so I wouldn't feel sick. Everything went cold, like a ghost had walked through me. I made my way back upstairs to Sarah's room trying to think nothing about it, but I was still feeling cold.

I heard a voice coming from Sarah's room, definitely not her own. There was a guy in her room. I opened the door so slightly to see what was going on. There was a man standing there wearing the most unusual clothes I had ever seen. While I was staring I didn't notice that the door had managed to sway open revealing myself to this mysterious character.

Then it hit me, that's Jareth, the Goblin King.

* * *

So what did u think? Comments, reviews, questions are welcome!

L: Yay! I know, the Goblin King has finally made his appearance into the story... he kept telling me he should have appeared sooner but he kept telling me i was portraying him wrong.

J: Thats not true, precious. Would you like a peach?

L: Ahhhhh, no thanks. I'm not falling for that one again...

J: -walks over to my computer documents and pulls a face- who is this?

L: That was a cross-over I was considering between Labyrinth and Dracula... I havent decided what I'm going to do with that yet.

J: -picks up another paper- And theres another about this dracula?

L: yeah, ive been going over some ideas but I'm afraid to make them cuz I dont want the rath of Dracula.

J: Oh please, hes a vampire. whats he gonna do? Blind you with sparkles?

-Dracula enters, taps Jareth on the shoulder-

L: I told u.

-curtain closes-


	5. Chapter 5

Hello My Darlings!

Well, I have returned... to which i appologize, i took a vacation out of town and my parents decided not to get internet :(

Anyways, so I have returned with a new installment of Maze of the Mind! Please comment and review, I live off of them! Also, still dont know where I'm moving so my posting may become slightly random but i will try to keep to my schedule of once every fortnight.

On with the show! (its the exciting part :))

-sits back in chair with popcorn-

* * *

The King stood there and saw me staring at him. Who couldn't help but stare? There is glitter all over Sarah's room; his blonde hair is uneven, long and short like hot ice. Then there were his uneven eyes, one brown and one blue that seemed to stare straight into your soul to see all your hopes and dreams. His clothes didn't appear to be from this time period, let alone this world. He wore a long black cape which curved up at the top like a Vampire's. His shirt was black as well as his pants, well if you could call them pants. They seemed to be so tight they could be uncomfortable, and I would know since the last show I was in the guys had to wear tights and the constant complaining for only having to wear them for a few hours was unbearable.

"Are you going to join me willingly or will I have to force you?" the Goblin King said to Sarah.

"Never, I beat you. You have no power over me Jareth!" Sarah yelled.

"He's real? This is Jareth, King of the Goblins? You defeated him; he doesn't have power over you anymore." I exclaimed.

"Yes, I would be Jareth, King of the Goblins. Who may this be Sarah?" Jareth said turning to Sarah with a smirk across his face.

"Leave her out of this." Sarah said stepping in front of me and I side stepped, I don't need to be protected I can defend myself.

"It has been one year since I let you win the Labyrinth for the return of your brother. Your time is up and you must return back to the Underground." He said extending his hand out towards her.

"Leave her alone. I won't let you take her. If you want to take anyone here, take me." I said stepping in front of Sarah.

Sarah has a family, a future in writing and a younger brother that looks up to her like a goddess. I don't have anything like that. I'm all alone, and acting isn't an easy business to get into. I have no idea what I'm getting into but I'll feel better knowing that it will be me joining this Goblin King guy instead of Sarah.

"What are you doing Nicole? Do you have any idea what you are getting yourself into?" Sarah said in a tone expressing her concern and anger with my decision.

"You have a family, a life and a future. Your brother idolizes you! I don't have any of that, no parents, siblings. I'm doing what any good friend would do in this situation. If anyone is to go with this guy, it's me." I said trying to talk sense into her.

"I will settle for a trade. Nicole, you may gain Sarah's freedom if you can solve my Labyrinth in 13 hours." Jareth said walking out to the balcony to show Nicole the Labyrinth and the Goblin City located in the middle of it.

"I have 13 hours to get through that?" I looked at it knowing there was such a small chance that I could complete this monstrosity in a measly 13 hours.

"You still have time to turn back. I have a gift for you Nicole; it is a crystal full of your dreams. All you have to do is take it and turn back, never having to worry about this ever again." He said with a crystal in his hand extended out towards me.

"No, I can't. I can't let you take Sarah away!" I said turning around to see Sarah, but she wasn't there. "What have you done to her? Where is Sarah?"

"She is up at my castle, safe, I assure you. Unlike what Sarah has told you, the Labyrinth will be a lot more difficult to solve than when she did. You have three wishes to accompany you on your trip and can use them whenever you wish. You cannot though, wish yourself to the castle, freedom or for a map. Your time starts when you pass through the doors of the Labyrinth."

"Fine, I wish Sarah was here so I could talk to her. Right now,"

"As you wish, but she cannot join you on the journey."

"Nicole! What are you doing here?" Sarah said.

"I'm running the Labyrinth and I need as much help as I can before I start. I want you to tell me as much as you can about how to solve it in 13 hours."

"Remember, it will be much more difficult for you to solve than when you ran it Sarah." Jareth reminded us.

"Okay, I wrote about how I solved it in my story that you read. Knowing Jareth, it will be much more difficult then when I had to solve it and I doubt that the creatures of the Labyrinth are going to help you. Ok, you need to watch out for the Oubliettes, they are rooms in the Labyrinth where people are left to be forgotten about. Once you fall in, there is a very small chance of getting out. Then you have to watch out for the bog of eternal stench, if you step one foot into it you will smell bad for an eternity just like Hoggle told you. Then there are the Fieries, they can remove their limbs and head at will and they will try to do the same to you. If you meet them, run and keep running until you can't hear their songs."

"Okay, so look out for Oubliettes, the Bog of Eternal Stench, and the Fieries. Anything else I need to watch out for on my trip?"

"Things are not what they seem; a wall may not actually be a wall but a door. Expect the unexpected at all times and keep an eye on your time because there will be obstacles and distractions along the way. Also, no matter what, do not trust Jareth. I am very serious. Do not eat food that he has offered you and he will pull out all the stops to prevent you from succeeding."

"Just like the drugged Peach masquerade and how he sent the Goblin army after you to prevent you from entering the Castle and the lipstick on the stones. I can't really understand now how you said he gives you the creeps."

"You'll do fine. You have the best memory I know and your acting has helped you with that. I think that is all I can help you with."

"Okay Goblin King, you may take Sarah back to the castle. I would also like to redeem my second wish. I wish I had a bag which has a; compass, a few plastic bracelets, a pocket watch which will tell me how much time I have left, a dagger as well as a rope that cannot be untied unless I want it to." As I said this each item appearing in the bag and passed over to me once I finished my wish.

I opened the bag to check that each of the items were in my bag, Sarah said not to trust him so I wasn't going to start any time soon. Everything was there and I took out the compass and set the adjustable needle to point towards the castle, so I would know that I would be walking in the right direction. The compass looked like the compass from the movie The Golden Compass, but with North, South, East and West instead of pictures. Then I took out the pocket watch, it was a beautiful. It was gold with a white clock face and an owl carved into the front. There were 13 hours on the clock and the hands weren't moving yet. I attached it to one of the belt loops in my jeans and put it in my pocket, so I could be able to reach it later.

"Will that be all you will wish for?" The Goblin King asked.

"Yes. Thank you." I said putting my bag over my shoulder.

"You have 13 hours to complete my Labyrinth until Sarah becomes one of us forever, such a pity." He said disappearing.

I pulled out the pocket watch again to see whether the clock had started. 12 hours, 59 minutes left to complete the labyrinth. Well, I better get started. I walked down the hill down to the wall of the labyrinth.

"Now, if only I could find the door." I said to myself.

I turned around to look back at the hill and saw the door to the labyrinth. Sarah was right, nothing is what it seems around here. I opened the heavy door to find two different paths, one leading to the left and another going to the right. The left or right path, which one to choose? The doors closed behind me and I jumped at the noise. I turned around quickly to see where the noise had come from to see it was just the door. I opened up my bag to get the rope out; it was only two feet long. This is not going to work; Sarah was right, don't trust the Goblin King. I took it out and pulled on it from both sides and the rope seemed to get longer, twice the size. I tied one end of the rope around the door handle and the other end around my wrist, so I would lose it.

* * *

So... what do you think? Comments and reviews are always welcome -glares- I know you're out there...

Jane A: I apologize for taking it out of the 80s, being a teenager I am not too familiar with the time period and no matter how much research I do I feel like I wouldn't give it justice. And as they say "stick to what you know". That should be one of the very very very few times that it will be taken out of the 80s though. I think there might be only 1 or 2 more times in future chapters at most that its not 80s.


	6. Chapter 6

Hello again! Sorry about the delay, this whole packing thing is driving me crazy... and the silly part, I don't even know where yet! Good thing is I find out in the next few weeks, thank you everyone for the reviews! So without further delay, I give you -Jareth walks in-

Jareth: Giving your usual speech to the lovely readers here?

Lady: Yes, now don't you have a kingdom to run? Or at least try to trip up Nicole?

Jareth: You bring up a good point but I would much like to spend my time here, talking to the readers. You get to have all the fun and I thought I should get to introduce a new chapter for once.

Lady: -rolls eyes- Fine, Mr. Glitterpants, you can introduce a new chapter next time, now please leave. I think the readers are getting annoyed that you are keeping them from reading the story.

Jareth: No I think I will stay -sits in chair across the stage-

Lady: -wheels chair offstage, and locks the GK in a room, walks back out on stage- Well, as I was saying before I was rudely interupted. Without further delay I bring you Chapter 6 of Maze of the Mind!

-Close Curtain-

* * *

I started down the path on the right, hoping it was the correct one. I walked for at least 20 minutes before I started to get frustrated. There was no turns, no openings, nothing at all! How was I going to get to the Castle if there were no openings?

"How am I going to get to the castle if there are no bends or anything?" I sat down next to a wall, trying to calm myself down. What if I can't solve the labyrinth in the amount of time I had? Will Sarah ever forgive me?

"'Ello!"

"Who said that?" I said looking around.

"Down here!"

"Oh! You're a worm." I said looking down at the worm.

"Yeah, come inside and meet the Missus."

"I can't right now, I have to solve the Labyrinth. What's the quickest way to the castle?"

"Come inside for a cup of tea."

"If I go inside for a cup of tea, will you tell me the quickest way to the castle?"

"There's an opening just across there its right in-front of ya. Then ya turn left and keep walking."

"Thank you! I promise I will come back for tea."

I walked over to the wall and it disappeared, two new paths, one left and one right. I took the worms advice and took the left path. My hopes were rising and this may not be such an impossible task. Hey, Sarah completed the Labyrinth, why couldn't I? I continued on my journey with my rope still tied around my wrist. The only reason why I asked for the rope was to make sure I didn't double back on myself and waste what little time I had.

I kept walking for what felt like forever. I check the pocket watch again, just a little less than 10 hours left. 3 hours gone already? I put away the pocket watch again and kept walking, increasing my pace almost running. I didn't want to lose my way and I wasn't going to let Sarah live in this place forever.

I reached a four way intersection, should I go forward, left or right? I took out my compass to make my decision. The castle was on my left, so I chose left. If I was wrong, I would just end up where I started or I could use that last wish. I want to keep that last wish for when I really need it like if I reach something dangerous like a dragon or something who knows?

I reached a dead end. Drats, I've wasted who knows how much time going down this one turn to find it a dead end. Great, now I have to go back and try another one and who knows how much time that's going to take. What if that time is the difference between me saving Sarah or her being stuck here for an eternity? I need to stop thinking about things like that; it's going to make me lose focus.

A noise, something like a twig snapping came from behind me and I turned around quickly to see what thing had made it. To my surprise the walls had changed and where there was a dead end before there was two doors, one two creatures behind a shield at each. It was such an odd thing to see, two heads popped out of each end of the shields.

"This was a dead end only a few seconds ago. This Labyrinth keeps changing!" I said in frustration, the Labyrinth is either going to help me or prevent me from completing my goal.

"No, that's the dead end behind you." The Bottom Red Guard said.

I turned around to see that the path that led me to this point was gone. The rope that was tied around my wrist was coming out of a hole in between the wall. This was just going to be perfect. The rope still extended as I walked over to the doors, so I wasn't trapped by the rope.

"How do I get out of this dead end?" I ask.

"The only way out is through one of these doors." The Bottom Red Guard said.

"One of them leads to the castle at the center of the Labyrinth and the other leads to…" The Bottom Blue Guard Said.

"B-b-b-Boom!" The Top Blue Guard said for dramatic effect.

"Certain Death!" The Bottom Blue Guard added.

"Which one will lead to certain death and which will lead me to the castle?" I ask, hopefully I can get through this labyrinth with the limited time I have.

"We can't tell you." The Bottom Red guard said stuttering.

"Why can't you tell me?"

"We don't know, but they do." The Bottom Red Guard said looking up towards the Top guards.

"You can't ask us, you can only ask one of us. It's in the rules." The Top Blue Guard said.

"I should warn you, one of us always tells the truth and the other always lies. That's in the rules too." The Top Blue Guard said.

"He always lies." The Top Red Guard added.

"I do not! I tell the truth!" The Top Blue Guard said defending himself.

"What a lie." The top Blue guard responded.

"Okay, so one of you always lies and the other always tells the truth and I can only ask one of you a question." I walked over to the Top Red Guard on the left. Now what did Sarah ask these doors when she went through? Oh, now I remember. "Alright, answer yes or no. Would he say that this door leads to the castle?"

After talking to the Bottom Red guard he answered "Yes."

"In that case the other door must lead to the castle!" I announce.

I walked over to the Blue door and opened it. This isn't too bad of a Labyrinth so long as I keep track of time. I kept walking until; the floor fell out from underneath me. What on earth is this? I started to fall into an abyss of darkness. I didn't even walk that far! Nothing is as it seems. Then, hands appeared out of no-where and started to grab hold of me. It's like I'm living a nightmare of some sort!

"Stop it! Stop it!" I screamed. The hands stopped me from falling any further.

"We're helping hands." Some of the hands joined together to make a face of some sort.

"Now, which way do you want to go up or down?" Another pair of hands asked.

"Well, Sarah went down and I don't know what is up. I guess I'm going down then."

"She said down!" One pair of hands said.

I started to fall down quickly and ended up in the Oubliette, just like Sarah had. Well, at least that hadn't changed. It was cold and dark, definitely a place you would put someone to forget about them. The door above that I entered from closed a locked. I'm not getting out of here easily.

* * *

So what do you think? Questions, comments, suggestions are all welcome!

Jareth: -puts his hand up- I have a suggestion!

Lady: -facepalms- Its for the readers, not you. But go ahead...

Jareth: I say, you should add me more into the chapters, I've only had like 2 appearances total!

Lady: Geez, calm down. You will be appearing more often -Sarah enters the stage- Oh no.

Sarah: Bring me back Nicole! What have you done to her? Turned her into a goblin? Huh? All because of your boredom!

-Sarah begins chasing Jareth, Lady looks around with a confused look on her face, then bursts out into laughter-

Lady: Well kind readers, that ends Chapter 6 of Maze of the Mind, I can't believe I have made it this far without attempting to re-do the whole story. Also, in the next few weeks I may publish a little one shot that I wrote in one of my classes before summer started, so long as the Goblins give me back my stuff... -eyes goblins- Yes, I see you! -chases after goblins-

-close curtain-


	7. Chapter 7

Gk: -sitting in chair with a steriotypical fireplace in the backround and reading a book. Looks up to the audience and looks at them if they caught him off guard- Oh, I didn't see you there. Welcome to another installment of… -Fireplace scene falls backwards and goblins can be seen running around in the backround. Jareth looks really mad- What on EARTH DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING? -looks back at the audience - Sorry about that folks, just having a few –kicks goblin- technical difficulties.

_Weeks later_

Gk: -walks out onto an empty stage- I appologize for large technical difficultes we experianced last time we tried to open this chapter. Never the less, welcome to chapter 7 of Maze of the –book flies across stage, jareth ducks- Ha! Didn't get me that time Lily! You have the aim of a drunk goblin, wait, that of a regular goblin since they are always drunk anyways. –Five books fly towards him, he dodges. Goblin King is looking slightly nervous- Oh come on! Can I just finish off introducing the story?

Lily: Yes, hurry up with it! You have had nearly a month to construct that ridiculous set which you decided to build using the help of your goblins… and failed. So if you don't finish off your monologue in 20 seconds –Big timer comes down from the ceiling with red lights, like you would see at a sporting events.- Time is a ticking Goblin King –Timer starts to count down-

Gk: Well welcome to this new chapter of Maze of the Mind, my appologies for its tardiness. If you have a complaint, please send it to the goblins which are currently occupying the bog of eternal stench. Anyways, on the show!

-Lily is behind the Goblin King with a book in hand. The timer hasn't reached zero yet, but has her hand raised-

SLAP!

Lily: Sorry everyone. I know this has been late, but fancy pants has been keeping me busy with that construction for the fireplace and everything. Anyways, I needed that. I feel so much better now.

* * *

"Well, well, well. Look at what we have here. A little lost are we?" I know that voice. The Goblin King is here to taunt me. Everything began to light up as he lit one of the candles in the room.

"I'm not lost. I know what I'm doing, I read Sarah's story." I replied. I tried my hardest to hide the fear I had for him.

"My offer still stands. You can use your last wish to leave the Oubliette." He said walking over towards me; I automatically started to back away.

"I will not use that last wish of mine just yet Goblin King. I will not let you keep Sarah and I will complete the Labyrinth." While I was saying this I could feel my fear seeping through, I hope he didn't notice it.

"You really ought not to fear me. I have been generous but I can be cruel. My offer still stands, return back home, become an actress and forget about Sarah."

"No."

"Good Luck getting out of the Oubliette." He disappeared.

Ok, think Nicole, think. What did Sarah do to get out of the Oubliette? Wait, how much time do I have left? 9 hours remaining to get to the castle. Hoggle helped Sarah at this part of the story. Why can't I remember this part? He picked up something and put it to the door. I looked around the room and saw a big piece of wood. Now I remember! Hoggle used the piece of wood and put it up against that wall and I turned to face the wall. I picked up the big piece of wood and put it up against the wall and turned the door handle. Pots and pans started to fall on top of me and I hurried to close the door again so I wouldn't get covered in pots and pans again. I turned the door handle again and the door opened to a new path.

I made my way down the path and the walls started to yell things to me about going to wrong way.

"Turn around."

"This is not the path you want."

"Certain doom awaits you."

"The false alarms, I must be on the right path then." I said to myself.

I turned left down a path which was exactly like Sarah described. I looked around to see if the Goblin King or a beggar or both was there considering she lost time for saying that the Labyrinth is easy. I kept walking down the path until I reached the door that Sarah described and pushed it open, after about 10 attempts. I climbed the ladder and pulled off the top lid thing to climb out of the pot. I looked around and pulled out my compass again to choose my path. I made my choice and put the compass away. I started walking in the direction the compass showed me. I doubled back on myself twice and got really frustrated. An owl flew over to the tree

"This isn't fair! I come to the same piece of rope nearly three times now." I scream, my frustration taking over.

"I wonder what your basis for that comparison is." I turned around to see the Goblin King sitting in the tree where the owl had been perched only moments ago.

"What do you care? You are just trying to distract me from completing the Labyrinth." That struck a nerve; he doesn't even know me and assumes my life is perfect.

"You still have plenty of time left, Sarah didn't get this far in this short amount of time and she had help from some of my subjects."

"She may have had help from your subjects but I can still remember parts of her story. I assure you it has been helpful getting past the doors and getting out of the Oubliette."

"How are you enjoying my Labyrinth?"

"Well, I wouldn't dare say it's a piece of cake." This brought a smile to his face.

"My, my you have definitely learnt from Sarah. But will it be enough to get you through the Labyrinth?"

"I think I am the only one to determine that. Now if you will excuse me, I need to keep moving."

"Aren't you hungry?"

"I might me, but as you said I have learnt from Sarah. Trusting you over food will not be something I will do soon, I don't even know how much time I can afford to lose with a masquerade." With this, he laughed.

"Fair enough, my offer still stands."

With that, he disappeared a peach fell out of the tree. The wind picked up for a moment and I'm sure I heard someone say _should you feel hungry. _I was not going to waste time with a masquerade so I picked up the peach and put it in my bag. I continued on my path that I had chosen.

* * *

Lily: So guys, what do you think? -Goblins are dragging the Goblin King offstage left- I'm sorry about hurting the Goblin King like that. I'm on a road trip from Florida to New York, and I was staying the night in Georgia (which currently has peached EVERYWHERE!) He was taunting me and trying to convince me to eat one. I stole his boot, he wasn't happy but we reached a deal about the peaches.

Please rate a review! They are keeping me sane, when dealing with the Goblin King for the next few weeks on this trip. =D


	8. Chapter 8

-A Goblin comes on stage with a small wooden crate, the goblin places the crate under a microphone which is hanging from the ceiling. The goblin steps up on it to reach the microphone and begins to speak-

Goblin: I am out here tonight because the Goblins want cookies, and have been promised many if we get reviews. Plus, Lily and kingy are having a royal argument over the Hotel room while they wait to move into their house. -looks down at papers- So welcome to another edition of Maze of the Mind. Lily has no Beta and has not really edited this chapter so please pardon the mistakes. Thank you to all the readers which have stayed with this story for so long, it is greatly apre -goblin stumbles on pronuciation- appreciated. So without further a-do on with this chapter!

-Goblin hurries off stage-

* * *

Jareth's POV

What an interesting creature, she definitely is much better than Sarah. She might even finish the Labyrinth with a few hours left remaining. I hope she does complete the Labyrinth; it would get rid of Sarah who has been causing chaos in my kingdom since I brought her back. She hasn't really changed much since she ran the labyrinth last time, selfish, childish and spoilt. Less than seven hours to deal with her then she will return home and Nicole will be mine.

I conjured up magic crystal to see where Nicole is in my labyrinth, in the forest I see. Not too much longer before that pretty little head of hers thinks her way to my castle but I'm not going to let her pass so easily. The markets surely would keep her occupied for a few minutes and see a different side of the goblins.

"Call Owen, have him see me immediately." I said hitting one of the gobbling near my throne on the head with my riding crop.

"Yes my lord?" Owen said as he ran into the room.

"Go to the front gate of my castle with a sword and keep a look out for a young human girl that will appear lost. Fight her to prevent her from gaining access to my castle, but do not allow any harm to come to her, understood? Keep her occupied till she is tired or is in her final hour or so of her time limit."

"Yes my lord, how will I recognize the human?"

"She looks a great deal like Sarah, close enough to be sisters."

With that Owen bowed and left the room. He is one of my finest soldiers, not the brightest but should distract Nicole for some time. I conjured up another crystal to see the woman that would be spending an eternity with me in exchange for Sarah. Why would she trade herself for Sarah?

"Why are you looking at Lady Nicole?" Hoggle said appearing from behind my throne.

"She is running my labyrinth hogs-breath." I say, if my subjects knew Sarah was in the castle they would surely make an attempt to take her back home and that would just bring even more chaos to her hissy fits.

"Nicole wouldn't do that, she knows Sarah and her time in the Labyrinth."

"How do you know about Nicole?" I question my subject. How did Hogs-brain know Nicole? Sarah may have written about him in her story but that wouldn't explain how Hogwart knows about her.

"No reason. I haven't seen her before." Hoggem said trying to back out of the room.

"You will tell me at once or I will send you head first into the Bog of Eternal Stench." That stopped him from running away.

"Oh please not the Bog of Eternal Stench!"

"Then answer my question."

"Sarah called us to her room one a few hours ago, she introduced us to her. There, that's how I know the little lady. Now may I leave your highness?"

"No, you are to stay in the castle till Nicole has failed my labyrinth that way you can't help her." With that I threw the magic crystal in his direction and sent him away to a wing of the castle on the opposite side to prevent him from finding Sarah. The last thing I need now is Sarah turning my subjects against me.

I conjured up another crystal to check up on Nicole, she is so close to the splitting path. If she chooses the right path she should go straight to the Bog of Eternal Stench if not, she has to go straight back to the beginning, if she goes back to the beginning she won't have enough time to finish the Labyrinth.

* * *

Lily: Please review and remember, the Goblins get cookies

GK: Do not even think about loading up my subjects with sugar and caffeine.

Lily: Oh, hadn't thought about caffeine. The Goblins get cookies and coffee for the reviews.

GK: This is all because of the fireplace incident isnt it?

Lily: Yep. Did you really believe that the Goblins could build something half decent?

-Goblin holds up sign Lily:1 GK:0-

GK: Hey! when were we keeping count?

-Goblin is seen flying to the Bog of Eternal Stench-

Lily: Now that wasn't very nice.


	9. Chapter 9

-Goblins are seen stacked up on the edge of the stage, one burps and another falls over-

Lily: Hey everyone, sorry this is so late but I will explain myself at the bottom of the page. Welcome to another chapter!

* * *

Nicole's POV

I was at the edge of the forest when I reached a split in the path. One leading to the left which looked like it was chaos with old dead branched across it, and the other to the right was peaceful. There was a sign in between the two paths which read. _One of these Paths lead straight to the castle past the Bog of Eternal Stench and the other leads you back to the beginning of the Labyrinth. Things are not what they appear so choose wisely._ I pulled out my compass again and the path on the right was pointing in the right direction, but it wasn't as it seems. What if the sign was lying? After much thought I chose the path on the left despite how dangerous it looked.

I walked for ages, from what the pocket watch said, two hours at least giving me 5 hours to get to the bog and get to the castle. The whole walk to the bog was lonely; at least Sarah had Hoggle, Sir Didymus and Ludo to talk to on her way to the castle. I've only gotten to talk to the Worm in the beginning of the Labyrinth and the Goblin King at random intervals. Speaking of which he hasn't appeared in quite some time; I wonder if Sarah is giving him hell at the castle. Sounds like something she would do. The thought of what Sarah could be doing to annoy the Goblin King brought a smile to my face that I couldn't suppress.

I reached the Bog of Eternal Stench and my smile fell to trying to block my nose from that awful smell. It was so bad it would make a normal person gag, but considering I only have a few hours left I held back my stomach. I saw the bridge over the other side of the bog and I tried to quickly make my way over there without falling in. I didn't want to smell bad for the rest of my life, even if I have to stay in this land forever.

Finally, I reached the bridge over the Bog of Eternal Stench. It didn't look too safe but it was the only way I could see that I could get across. I cautiously started to make my way across until I started to see something move beneath me. I stopped in my tracks. It was a huge creature, 10 feet long at least with dark green scaly skin. Definitely something I wouldn't want to mess with. I tried to stay calm for as long as I could but every nerve in my body wanted me to run, run as fast as I could way from the creature. Then I took another step and the bridge gave out beneath me. I shot my arms up in the air trying to get a hold of anything above me. My hands caught some branches and I held on for dear life. The creature began circling around me and I started to freak out.

"Help! Someone help me please!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

No one came to my aid I was struggling to keep hold of the branches. I gave up on Labyrinth creatures coming to my aid like they did for Sarah. The creature tried to leap up to bite me but I kicked him square in the mouth, hoping that would keep him from attacking me for a few more minutes while I thought of what I could do to improve my situation. Then it hit me.

"Goblin King, help me please!"

"Well, well, well. In a bit of a pickle aren't we?" The Goblin King said as he appeared over the other side of the bridge.

"Just get me down from here." I yelled as I kicked the monster again.

"Say the magic words." If his smirk got any bigger, I'm sure it would have cracked his face in half.

"I wish you would get me down from here, right now."

"As you wish."

A rock appeared out of the bog just like it had for Sarah in her story. Then another appeared out of the bog, until there were enough rocks to make it back to the other side. I walked back over to the other side, and saw the Goblin King wasn't back over the other side of the bog anymore.

"Thank you." I said hoping there was some way that he could hear me.

I surveyed the area and began to think about what I could do to get across. I narrowed it down to one option which wasn't a crazy as the others and taking the crystal was out of the question. I pulled on my rope that was still tied around my wrist and it untied and began to shrink down to the size it was when I first tied it around the door to the labyrinth. I pulled on the rope until I felt it was long enough and tied an end into a loop so I could throw it, hoping it would land around a branch and I could swing across.

I put my plan into action; I tied the rope into a loop and threw it to a strong looking branch. Success! I gripped onto the rope to tug it a few times to make sure the rope was stable and wrapped it around my wrists a few times. I ran across the stones and jumped. I swung myself across the rest of the bog and hit the ground on the other side. That is definitely going to leave a bruise. I pulled on the rope again and it untied and shrunk down again without touching the bog. I stretched out the rope again and tied one end around a nearby tree and the other end back around my wrist.

With the rope firmly fastened around my wrist I started walking down the only path available. My pocket watch said I had 4 hours; I'm really going to need to keep moving and make up for lost time. I'm so close and if I don't complete the Labyrinth I will never forgive myself.

At least 10 minutes later I reached the gate to the goblin city to find the guard sleeping. So much for security, the same thing happened to Sarah until Sir Didymus attempted to wake him for a fight. I just hope there isn't a huge robot over the other side because I'm out of wishes and I couldn't take on a robot thing alone.

I snuck past the guard and opened up the door to the Goblin City. It was completely different to how Sarah had described it. Markets were bustling with life and Fae and goblins were bartering over items. I was assuming they were Fae because although they looked human there was an aura about them that made me feel they weren't. I looked around to see that people were not wearing clothes that were like mine, well my top fitted in with what the Fae women were wearing. I walked over to one of the stalls being run by a goblin that sold clothes, and began looking for something that would help me blend into the crowd so I could reach the castle undetected.

"What do you want for the emerald green skirt?" I ask the goblin.

"What you got?" The small goblin woman asked.

I went through my bag to find the bracelets that I asked the Goblin King for, I hope they are worth something here. I pulled out one to show the woman.

"Would this be enough?" I showed her the bracelet. The woman tried to grab it from my hand but I pulled my hand back before she could. "I'm sorry but I would prefer it if you could observe it with your eyes and not with your hands."

She observed the bracelet and had an expression of deep thought on her face. She picked up the emerald green skirt and began to speak.

"Two more of those and you have a deal."

I reached into my bag and pulled out the little bag of the bracelets. I opened the bag to see how many the Goblin King had given me. Including the one in my hand there was a total of three bracelets, just enough to pay for the skirt.

"You have yourself a deal."

I handed over the bracelets but didn't let go of them until she had given me the bracelets. I hadn't had any experiences with Goblins before so I didn't know what to expect. I slipped on the skirt over my jeans where I was standing and started to make my way over to the castle. I slipped into the background and made my way over to the castle doors. There was a guard over near the doors, he was too tall to be a goblin but didn't look human enough to be a Fae. I looked through my bag to see if the peach was still there. Hopefully Sarah was right about foods the Goblin King offered and it was drugged with something. Something weird happened when I looked through the bag. The dagger wasn't really a dagger anymore but more of a sword, what had caused this to happen? Was it a sign that I would have to fight someone? I don't really know how to sword fight, just some basics from movies like Star Wars and some medieval movies. I pushed it out of my mind and I walked up to the guard.

"Good sir, would you like a peach? You look like you could go for some nourishment." I said handing him the peach.

"Why thank you little missy. Say, you wouldn't by chance have seen a girl about your height wearing human clothes?"

"There's a human girl here?" I ask acting surprised.

"Yeah, she's running the Labyrinth for her friend…" he started to fall asleep and I helped him to the ground.

I felt bad enough that I would have to drug someone with a peach to get to the castle but it was better than having to resort to hand to hand combat. I opened the door to the castle to see a throne room empty. He must have known I would be coming. I looked up to the clock that was on the wall next to the Goblin King's throne to see that I had 2 hours left. There was a pair of stairs just on the other side of the King's throne and the only other exit I could see. I took the stairs to what appeared to be the roof of some sort. It was filled with stars and odd shaped things. I looked around for a few seconds before I walked over to one of the edges to see if I could see the Goblin city below. It was the same room which Sarah described as the room she had the final showdown.

* * *

-Lily is on stage, the goblins are still sleeping there-

Lily: Hi everyone, sorry about the move of intro and shenanigans but I think this is a better place to put it since gk likes to interrupt me.

-gk can be seen with a bucket of paint in the backround-

Lily: put down that bucket of paint Jareth. I decided my room is purple, you are not to even attempt to make it peach. Or I will send some more goblins after you when they are hyperactive and I wont protect you when they think you are one of their chickens.

-fear strikes gk face-

Lily: yeah, I thought so.

Gk: As soon as I find out who gave my subjects cookies and caffeine they will be severly punished.

Lily: Oh get off your high horse. I particularly had fun, they are a rather lively bunch when their diets don't just consist of alcohol. You know who would be an interesting fixture to these conversations? Dracula. That could be some fun.

Gk: Oh no you don't! You are not bringing that leech into these conversations. Not only do the Goblins go around for weeks attempting to turn into a bat and trying to scare people with long capes. Its just not necessary.

Lily: by the way people, I believe there was a typo. Owen's name is Rowen. Sorry, my apologies. Oh and Goblin King, you shouldn't steal coffee that has the Goblin's name on it, it was decaf. So being the kind writer that I am I substituted it, but unfortunately I only had full strength.

-goblin holds up sign Lily: 2 Goblin King:0-

Lily: Okay, to explain to everyone why this is late: I have finals this week (today I had my english final) and I have been helping Queen of the Nomads write a story. Plus we came up with a Harry Potter fic but haven't decided who is going to write it yet.

Shout out to** Princess of the Fae**, I believe the goblins particularly enjoyed your cookies and I believe Jareth enjoyed the coffee.

**Please Review!** Next review the goblins will be introduced to video games or something. Recommendations are welcome. Criticism , ideas and other things which I can do to improve this story are also welcome.


	10. Chapter 10

"Well, well, well. You have completed my Labyrinth. Congratulations." The Goblin King was at the door way.

"Well, I have completed the Labyrinth, Sarah must be returned back home right now." I say standing my ground as the Goblin King was walking towards me.

"Very well, I will hold my end of the bargain."

He dropped the crystal a d let it shatter into thousands of pieces, almost a dust. Normal crystal wouldn't turn into dust like that would it? It was heart breaking to watch as my dreams were not going to become real but a pile of dust. It's all worth it, I think to myself, Sarah will become a great writer and have a wonderful life.

"As a gesture of good faith, send me back with her so I know that she has returned safely."

"You truly do not trust me, I wonder why that is."

"After reading of Sarah's experiences one would have to know better than to trust you. That peach you gave me was a good example of that and put the guard out the front to sleep in seconds."

"Very well, you may accompany Sarah back to the Aboveground. Follow me." With that, Jareth walked out of the room and I followed him, we walked for a short amount of time before we reached a door. The Goblin King opened the door which was followed by a book thrown in his direction; he caught it with superhuman reflexes.

"I have a guest for you Sarah." I walked passed Jareth and into the room to see an angry Sarah.

"Hi Sarah, I completed the Labyrinth so you can go home now." I said walking over to the bookcase to return the book.

"No, I'm not letting you. We are going back together or I'm staying too." She said walking over to me to give me a hug.

"A trade is a trade." The Goblin King said.

I glared at him; he did not say the right thing at the right time. He shouldn't be here, Sarah was unhappy enough about my completion of the Labyrinth and his presence was not making her feel better.

"Maybe you should go." I said in the direction of the Goblin King.

"Very well, this crystal will take you back home when you drop it. I will arrive an hour after you have said goodbye to retrieve you." He said walking over to me and placing a crystal in my hand and he left out the door.

"Come on Sarah, let's go home." She was still hugging me and I dropped the crystal.

The room faded away from us and we found ourselves in Sarah's room once again as if no time had passed at all. Sarah was still hugging me; this is not going to be easy to get her to let me go back. What will happen? Will people just forget I existed or will I be another one of those missing children cases?

"I'm not letting you go back to the Labyrinth." Sarah said tightening her grip around me.

"Come on Sarah, let go of me. I made a deal and I have to go through with it, when the Goblin King comes back he is either going to pull you off me or take both of us back together and that would just give him what he wants. Please, don't let me running the Labyrinth for your freedom be in vain." She let go of me and her eyes were red from the tears, I walked back over to her and gave her another hug in a motherly way.

"Don't cry, please don't cry. This is harder on me then it is on you. Hey, I'll talk to Hoggle and see if he can get me to go with him next time you call him okay? It's not like I'm leaving you forever, I'll find a way to still see you. Could you do one thing for me? Please tell my grandparents that I'm sorry, I don't know whether I'm going to be erased from everyone's memories or become a missing children case. Can you do something for me? Please tell my grandparents that I'm sorry, I don't know whether I'm going to be erased from everyone's memories or become a missing children case. If I end up a missing children case just give them closure."

"Okay, but promise that you will go with Hoggle when I call him." I could see it in her eyes that this was affecting her greatly.

"Goblin King is going to be here soon to take me away so..." I didn't get to finish my sentence before the goblin king arrived, who knew an hour could fly by so quickly when you were trying to pry your friend off you?

"Well, I should go. This isn't good bye, I will see you again." with that said, I walked over to the goblin king. He put his hand on my shoulder and dropped a crystal in the space between us.

Within seconds we were back in the Goblin castle throne room.

"I suppose you gave questions?" he said sitting on his throne.

"You're not going to turn me into a goblin are you?" I ask.

"Where would you get an idea like that?" he stared at me with a quizzical expression.

"When you took Sarah's brother you said you would turn him into a goblin."

"I never said such a thing. I said he would become one of us forever."

"So I'm going to stay human?"

"Depending on whether the labyrinth decides to turn you into a Fae or not, but for now you will stay human."

"What happens in my world? Will people forget I existed or what?"

"For the moment your grandparents and all your friends except Sarah believe you are on a study abroad program for the next 3 years, in that time they will slowly forget you existed."

"Why won't Sarah forget me?"

"Because she ran the Labyrinth before and won, thus winning her memories even though she had outside help and didn't run the real labyrinth. Because of that, I cannot erase her memories of you without erasing her memories of the Labyrinth and that would go against the rules. Now, you must be tired. Gimp will escort you to your chambers." a small goblin about Hoggle's height walked up next to me.

"Follow me my lady." Gimp said walking out of the room.

We walked for what felt like ages but I soon noticed we were not too far from where Sarah's room was. Gimp stopped and opened up an oak door to a beautiful champagne white room with cream marble floors. The bed was a dark brown canopy bed and had emerald colored sheets with gold accents with curtains to match. There was a desk on the right of the floor length curtains, dark brown wood to match the bed with a beautiful gold tray of food on it. There were two doors, both on the other side of the room.

"Which door is the bathroom Gimp?" I asked.

"The one furthest from the main door to the hallway, the one on the left." he said walking over to the bathroom door.

"Will that be all?"

"Yes, thank you." After that, Gimp left and I went to the bathroom.

The bathroom was similar to the bedroom, cream marbled floors, a gold sink in a cream marble vanity and green towels. The bath tub was gold as well surrounded by marble coming up on all sides as a ledge. The vanity had a huge mirror behind it and next to the sink there was a toothbrush and tooth paste as well as a bottle of perfume that i kept in my bathroom back home, it was my favorite. After doing what I had to in the bathroom I walked back out to see a nightgown out on the bed, it was a long floor length dress with spaghetti straps and a relatively conservative v-cut.

"Aren't you going to eat?" I hear someone say and I turned to the door to see the Goblin King standing there.

"How can I trust that you haven't drugged it?" I ask, after all I barely know him other than what Sarah has told me about him.

"If you cannot trust me, then why didn't you run away when you had the chance?"

"Because you would find me and it would be a waste of my time and yours."

"You have to eat something and it's just pasta." I hate to think it, but he was right. I would have to eat sometime meaning I would have to trust him. What the hell, it's just pasta; so long as it's not peach I think I'm good.

"No peach?" he laughed and walked over to the plate of pasta, picked up a fork and took a piece.

"Convinced?" he said hand the fork over to me.

"Fine." I started eating and noticed he was still there.

"Don't you have kingly duties to attend to goblin king?"

"Must you refer to me as 'Goblin King'? I have a name, or you could at least call me 'your highness'."

"Fat chance, Sarah forgot to mention your name."

"Jareth. Yes, your right I do have 'kingly' duties to attend to but I wanted to make sure you would eat first. It wouldn't look good of you got sick from not eating now wouldn't it?" he said as he left, closing the door behind him.

The pasta was really good, way better than any pasta I had at home. I finished the whole bowl and returned to the bathroom to have a bath. If I wasn't feeling so tired I would have stayed in the bath for ages, the water never seemed to cool down and was a perfect temperature. After what felt like an eternity I dried myself off and wrapped the towel around myself to walk back out into my room. I quickly walked over to the bed and got changed into the nightgown, checking the door to make sure of no more unwanted visitors. I returned the towel to the bathroom and hopped into bed. I was welcomed by a long slumber.

* * *

-Lady wakes up from a long sleep, she is wearing her pjs and is still looking rather tired. She leaves her room and notices there are no goblins swarming around her to get her attention-

Lady: Something isn't right.

-Lady goes down stairs to find something that will wake her up, she chooses coffee then walks back upstairs, she notices what looks like finger painting on the wall next to her room-

_Goobluns huv gun thwoo Pruncusis uv tha Faez pluc, _and a picture of a cookie was painted on the side.

Lady: Ah, the goblins decided to take a day off. Maybe I can start to work on that new fan fiction I was thinking about.

Gk: Maybe I can compose more songs; it would be nice to have some quiet.

Lady: You didn't leave to supervise your minions? I mean goblins?

Gk: No, I guess we get to spend the whole day together, without the Goblins. You might learn that I am not a vile creature that movie portrays me as. What I do is purely for the sake of my Labyrinth, I do not have any other choice.

Lady: I'm beginning to think wishing the Goblins back is a good idea, new fan fiction forsaken. But then I guess that means I still have to deal with you.

Gk: Your words hurt. Maybe you could teach me of your world's things, like the 'magical window' I believe the goblins called it.

Lady: The t.v? Rocky Horror is sounding good right now.

Gk: Hm?

Lady: Fine. I'll show you around, just look human. You can compose songs, **_quietly _**and at lunch I will take you out to my city.

Gk: We have a deal, so long as the Goblins stay away till after lunch_. If they come back before then, I'll banish them. (Thought, not said)_. Then perhaps I can show you around the Goblin City.

Lady: Do not push your luck. –Turns to audience- So, opinions, criticism? Just want to plain tell me you don't like the story? Go ahead, the review button is waiting (although, if you are going to tell me you don't like the story please explain why. I'll see what I can do about it :) )

I've been contemplating a one shot or two for this story and I do have a good portion of it all planned out. There is just one scene which I'm a little fuzzy on the ratings on, but don't worry it should be fine.

Sorry this is so late, I almost missed the bus this morning so I had to post it this afternoon. Ah the life of a teen.

Please comment, rate and review! I might either send the goblins to Disneyland or give them cotton candy, comment for your preference.


	11. Chapter 11

Lily: Well hello again! Sorry it has taken me soooooooo long to post up a new chapter, I understand how it is when an author doesn't publish up a new chapter in the longest time. Due to exams, formal (sorry, social), camp, ABW (Australian Business Week), Being a teacher for a week etc. The list goes on and on and on and on and on...

Also! I'm working on 4 stories right now which may eventually get posted under different movies/books. Look out for TRON and Harry Potter but I will still continue working on Maze of the Mind and Memories (which I am working on a new chapter which promises to be funny).

Without further a due I present Chapter 11!

* * *

"Please wake up Lady Nicole!" a goblin voice said while it pulled open the curtains. The light was blinding, waking me from my slumber. I tried hard to cover my eyes but it was no use, the goblin had jumped onto my bed and pulled the covers away.

"Alright, alright I'm getting up." I said half asleep as I swung my legs over the side of the bed.

That's when it all hit me, memories of running the Labyrinth to save Sarah from an eternity with the Goblin King, Sarah in her room crying as I left her to join the Goblin King in her place. Ok, let's evaluate the situation. I am in a weird place ruled by a flamboyant king, to stay here for an eternity which may actually be an eternity if the Labyrinth chooses me to become a Fae. What have I gotten myself into? I need to calm down, this is for Sarah. I am here so that Sarah can have a life, become a world famous writer and to ease my Grandparents burden of looking after me. The goblin was looking at me.

"I so sorry me 'lady, name's Daria and I am your servant." Daria said curtsying.

"Oh, okay. I wasn't expecting a servant." I said. I had a servant? Geez, here is me thinking I'm going to be a servant, not have one.

"If you wish for me to leave I will."

"Oh please don't go, beside Jareth and Gimp you are the only person I have met in this place."

"Okay, Daria can help you get dressed to have breakfast with his royal highness this morning…"

"I'm having breakfast with the Goblin King?" Okay, if I'm not a servant here, what am I?

"Yes, now follow Daria." She said whilst walking over to the other door.

Daria opened the door to a large room with dresses of all styles hanging from racks; shoes were on ledges above the dresses. This is a fashionista's dream, well if that fashionista was in love with old style clothing. On the opposite wall of the door there was a lavish make up table with cosmetics of all colors and brushes off all sizes. _Oh my gosh, there are so many different outfits to choose from, so many shoes, so much make up! I can't decide!_ I really need to calm down, _remember I are here for Sarah if I keep acting like this someone's going to think I wanted to live here. _

"Daria, what do you think I should wear to breakfast?" her eyes lit up as she raced around the room picking up a dress, shoes and a corset.

"What does me' lady think?" She said holding out the dresses so I could see.

"I love them. Is there any alternative to a corset?" I said staring at the thing, I have had to act in them, even sing in one before but I don't know how I would go eating in one.

"Sorry me' lady, dressy is supposed to have corset."

"Okay then, just please don't tie it too tight."

Daria sat me down on the makeup table chair and told me to hold onto the metal bar on the front. She put the corset around me and began to lace up the ties. I hope the Goblin King wasn't already waiting because he was going to be waiting for quite some more time.

"Is the Goblin King waiting for us?"

"No me' lady, his highness said to wake you and get you ready for breakfast, kingy said he had some things to do."

_He must he hungry. _A few seconds after that the corset was on and adjusted to be loose enough for my liking and Daria was helping me put on the beautiful emerald green velvet dress with gold accents. The dress looked very much like the dress Ella wears on the front of the book Ella Enchanted. That took less than 5 minutes to get on. Daria wanted to help me with makeup but I decided against it, I am human so I will look like a human. Light foundation with mascara was all the makeup I would wear to breakfast; after all it is just breakfast.

Daria looked up at the clock and said "Kingy is going to be happy, we are early!"

Daria led me down the hall to where it opened up to a grand staircase; we walked down the stairs and through a large hall way which led to the Goblin King's throne room which was empty and much cleaner then I remember it being last time. We were getting closer to the dining hall when Daria yelled out to one of the other goblins to 'telly kingy lady is ready for breakfast.' It was another turn and we reached it, Daria opened the door but didn't walk it.

"Wait here for kingy." She said closing the door.

I walked over to the table; it was huge with table ware set for two, one at the head of the table and the other on the right. _Okay, well I guess I am sitting on the right. _I took my seat and inspected the room. The room was a soothing light blue and a dark cornflower blue table cloth; the napkins matched the color of the walls. _This is nothing like Sarah wrote about. _The plates were porcelain white and accompanied with silver wear, nothing too elaborate, just a knife and fork. On the wall on my right there was a clock similar to how Sarah described in the masquerade.

"I trust you haven't been waiting long?" I looked up from inspecting the silver ware to see Jareth standing at the door.

"Ever since I've been here I haven't been able to keep a grasp on time. I hope I didn't pull you away from something important."

"That's what the underground does, the time may get take some getting used to considering out clock has 13 hours compared to your 12."

"Why is that?"

"That my dear, is a conversation for a later date." Two dishes appeared on either of our plates and he took the cover off of mine as he was saying that.

The aroma of mashed potatoes and bacons filled my nose. It smells so good! Corset or no corset I'm eating, I picked up both my knife and fork and started on the mashed potatoes. I think Jareth stared at me for a few seconds but the food smelled so good.

"So what exactly am I classed as if I have a servant and such a big wardrobe?" I ask bluntly.

"You are a member of my court considering that you are the first person to complete the real labyrinth. Did you think I would make you a servant?" he said with a laugh.

"Wait, Sarah completed the Labyrinth too, so how does that make me the only one?"

"She didn't run the really Labyrinth, yes they are similar but not the same. She ran the other one because I believed she really did want her brother back. It's quite a complicated process."

"So that's what it meant when you said you had been generous."

Moments later we had both finished breakfast and desert had appeared. I looked down at where my plate had been to see a huge bowl of an assortment of fruits. I ate a few and noticed there was no peach.

"No peach?" I asked.

"Would you eat it?"

"Good point. So what am I to do whilst I am here?"

"You may roam around the castle as you please, the locked doors are locked for a reason so it would be best if you didn't try to open them, something on the other side may not be pleasant. Secondly; if you wish to go to the market have a goblin, preferably Daria or another one of your servants accompany you…"

"Wait, I have more servants?"

"Yes, you met Darra this morning…"

"Daria." I corrected him.

"And another will help you out with anything you need."

The door opened abruptly and the guard that I drugged with the peach the Goblin King gave me. _If he recognizes me, I'm in deep, deep trouble. _He began to speak.

"Your highness, the High Queen has arrived…" He turned to face my direction.

"That's the Fae wench! She's the one who attempted to poison me! She's a trickster! How did you con your way into a meeting with his highness." He exclaimed with great anger walking over into my direction, I could help but wince and began to fear what he might do. _Get a hold of yourself Nicole!_

"Rowen, watch yourself. This is our new guest, Lady Nicole; she was the one you were to prevent from entering the castle." Goblin King said tensed up, but then relaxed. "As for the peach, you know better than to take fruit from young women, Fae or otherwise." He laughed.

"My apologies Lady Nicole, I did not mean to scare you." Rowen said kneeling down bowing his head.

"Don't worry about it; you were doing your job. I believe breakfast is finished?" I asked the Goblin King.

"Yes, now if you will excuse me I have my duties to attend to. I trust you will be accompanying me for dinner this evening?"

"Certainly." I replied and the Goblin King, wait, no, Jareth left with Rowen to meet the High Queen. Seconds later Daria arrived in the dining room.

"What would milady like to do today? We could go shopping, play dress ups…" Her face lit up when she said dress ups.

"Okay Daria lets play dress ups!" She looked so happy and grabbed my hand and started walking quickly down the hall ways.

About a minute later we arrived back at my room after making a stop at Daria's room to pick up her trunk. She looked as if she was hyper (well, what I think a Goblin would look like if they were loaded up with sugar.)

Daria got me dressed up in a big black dress with lots of lace. She had to tighten my corset so I could fit into the dress so I was having problems walking around and my movements were slightly restricted. Next she did my makeup; red lipstick, thick eyeliner on my upper lid and smoky eye shadow. For my hair she pulled the top half of my hair back into a small ponytail and let the rest of my hair fall back around my shoulders. I walked over to the mirror to see how I looked and found myself looking like a black widow; sad but deadly.

"Come on Daria, what do you want to get dressed into?" I asked walking over to her trunk. Daria walked over and opened it quickly and pulled out a long (well by her height it was long) white dress. "Looks beautiful!" Her face lit up with the comment.

Daria got dressed into the white dress. Its times like now that I wish I had my camera. I think I will begin an experiment.

"I wish I had a camera, so I can take photos of all of this." I said with my eyes closed. I opened my eyes to look around for a camera.

"So what do you think?" Daria said as she walked out from behind the changing screen.

"Beautiful. Let's see what we can do in terms of hair…" I said turning to the vanity and picked up a brush.

I walked over to Daria and began to brush her long blonde hair; she was as excited as a child in a candy store. After a few run through with the brush her hair looked very pretty for a goblin. I put the brush back on the table and noticed an old Polaroid camera.

Daria and I started taking photos after I explained to her it's a device that creates paintings on small bits of paper, the film. Then an idea hit me.

"Daria, pick out any dress from the wardrobe that you absolutely love and wish you had in your size." I asked Daria. She was gone for all of a few seconds and came back with a sky blue dress, floor length. She was hesitant to hand it over but she did, she really loved that dress.

"I wish that Daria would have this dress in her size." I announced with my eyes closed. "Now we wait."

We continued for a few more minutes taking photos of each other in the various dresses when there was a knock at the door. I opened it to see the Goblin King standing there with the blue dress for Daria.

"What is going on here?"

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Lady: Pity, the Goblins didn't get to go to Disneyland this time.

Gk: Are you going to show me around your city or not today?

Lady: Well it is a lovely day to walk around the city, but to spare the good people from reading all of that at the bottom, or skipping it if they choose I think I might make it a oneshot.

Also, just a warning for future chapters; chapter 13 was being annoying so I have to rewrite it but otherwise chapter 14/15 is complete and am working on chapter 15/16 (the slash marks are due to the major mess up I did in chapter 13 which if I don't fix then I will have to write another chapter to resolve the whole issue and may also bring other issues to the story).

If you want to see the Goblins go to Disneyland comment your vote!


	12. Chapter 12

Hello my readers! I have survived the new years and am returning once again. Things have been busy though I must admit. I took my break to write more chapters so now I am up to writing chapter 16. Don't worry there is way more things to come in the story.

Enjoy!

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"What is going on here?" Jareth asked.

"Daria and Lady Nicole did not mean to disturb you, I'm sorry." Daria said with a look of fear on her face.

"Don't fear him Daria, and please, it's just Nicole." I said stepping in front of the gobliness. "Just having a little fun, that's all. Daria has been very kind to me while I have been transitioning from my previous life to this new one." _More like freedom to captivity in my opinion._

"Very well, considering you are a member of the court you may do as you wish with your servants, no matter how unorthodox."

"Your highness, may I enquire as to why you decided to pay us a visit?" Nicole asked in a sweet tone despite just being offended.

"It is rounding midday and I was wondering whether you would be kind enough to join me in a stroll around the castle gardens before accompanying me to lunch? I have some business I need to speak with you about."

"Certainly your highness, just give me a few moments while I change into some more appropriate clothes to join you." Nicole said as she ushered the king out of her room and shut the door on his face.

Turning to Daria she said "Okay Daria, could you help me get this ridiculous make up off my face before I go for a walk?"

"Oh, Daria will help! Use this to get that make up off." Daria handed me a wipe (similar to that you would get at a restaurant to clean off your hands) "Daria will find you a dress."

I started to work on getting the make-up off my face, which came off quite easy with the wipe and within a minute Daria had come back with a dress of a light blue colour, similar to that of a Victorian era dress but the skirt not as wide.

10 minutes later of getting the old make-up off and apply fresh layer, tightening my corset and brushing my hair I was ready to go on my walk. It was honestly as if Daria was on super speed mode, as it would have taken me at least an hour to get ready. I thanked Daria and walked out of my quarters to find the Goblin King waiting for me.

oOoOoOoO

_In the Gardens_

"It is a shame you have not brought me out here sooner, there are so many different and fascinating trees, flowers and other plants out here. Not to mention birds."

"I take it you also have an interest in botany as well as reading?"

"Yes, I have always found gardens to be peaceful and I good place to read or to observe the happenings of nature. Now what is this business you wanted to talk about?"

"Right, you will be expected to be an active member of the Goblin court when it is time. Your human knowledge is of great value as many kingdoms communicate with your world. As of the past century we have not had the opportunity to gain our knowledge on your world as not many people believe in my world. It appears that people no longer believe in 'fairy tales' or claim not to have time for them in their lives. It is because of this that we do not get many people of your age or older wished away to enlighten us of your ways, and those that are wished away to us have been small children too young to even communicate to others.

So, for you to contribute to the Goblin Kingdom or any kingdom in the underground I believe a formal education in our history, traditions, etiquette and other important court formalities would be of great value and gain much respect from other members of the courts."

"When do you intend for me to begin these classes and who do you propose to teach me? I have seen no-one besides you, Daria, and Rowen in the castle."

"I will be taking on that duty, currently there is not much happenings in my kingdom that Rowen can't handle himself. To answer your second question lessons will start every morning. You will wake up as per normal and join me for breakfast and a lesson in etiquette, from then on till lunch I shall tutor you in history. Lunch will be another lesson in etiquette followed by traditions and dinner will be a lesson in dinner etiquette. How about we meet up 5 days a week as per normal in the Aboveground?"

"Sounds perfect, that way I can get around to exploring the castle and the grounds."

"Also, one thing whilst I remember" the Goblin King produced a crystal "Use this to find where the lessons will be each day. Just place it on the floor and it will lead you to the right room."

I reached out to get the crystal from Jareth; the crystal was rather quite cool to the touch. "So I guess it would be safe to assume that all the lessons are not going to be in the same rooms. Which also makes me think that there will be other lessons too?"

"Yes of course, there are much more things you must learn before I intend to announce your arrival and present you to court. Now that we are finished organizing your studies I believe you would like to continue exploring my castle as I must give Rowen his duties and set up a few things before I take my temporary absence. Also, you wouldn't want to wander around the Labyrinth alone, we wouldn't want you to have another experience with the Bog Monster." Jareth smiled at the memory of Nicole asking for help when she was about to be attacked by the Bog Monster. He turned into his usual barn owl shape and flew into a window on a high floor of the castle.

_So, I am all alone once again. I wonder whether Daria knows where the Library is; I think I will start exploring the insides of the castle before I start on the outside. This garden is beautiful though, I think I will take my lunch out here from now on._ I walked around the garden some more to observe the many different kinds of flowers. There were flowers which were colours which I had never seen before, some colours which I had never even thought possible to see naturally on flowers. I could spend all afternoon here if I didn't make my way back to the castle to find the Library.

I walked back to the entrance way (crystal still in hand) to the garden where I entered and called out for Daria, hoping she would be somewhere nearby to show me up to the Library. Within a minute she appeared before me with the same big smile she always has.

"Where can Daria take you Nicole?" she said grabbing a hold of my hand.

"Daria, can you show me where the Library is?" I ask as she begins walking in a direction of the library pulling me by the hand.

We arrived in minutes and I thanked Daria for her help and she returned to her duties. I opened the grand doors to reveal a large library with all four walls covered with books and large ladders allowing access to books on a higher level. I walked around the room to inspect the walls of books. There was a large section on non-fiction books about politics and science from writers such as Machiavelli, Plato, Aristotle, Bacon, Newton, Franklin etc. I then wandered around to a section with titles I couldn't read, they were in a foreign language. I think it is Italian, it doesn't look French or Spanish and they were rather quite old.

Then there was the fiction wall. Never had I seen such a devoted library to many different varieties of fiction. There were works from Orwell, Ibsen, James, the complete works of Shakespeare and so much more. I could easily spend days reading all the different works and genres of books. I decided to pick up a few books to read so I would not spend all night and a good portion of tomorrow reading in the library.

After much thought I picked up; Othello and A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare, The Prince by Nicolo Machiavelli just to start off and I would return them once I am done.

I picked up the books and the crystal (if only I had pockets in this dress) and decided to walk back to my room. I decided not to ask for help as I need to learn my way around the castle in order not to get lost, it would be embarrassing to still ask for directions if I have been here for more than a week. _Six days to go, why am I even counting? I'm stuck here forever. What was that thing that Sarah wrote in that story about this place? Oh yeah, "Forever isn't long at all"._

I was walking around for about 15 minutes before I realized that I was walking down the same staircase that I had just walked up. _Okay, so what can I do? _I sat down on the step for a moment to think through my options and began to stare at the crystal. _I wonder what would happen if I put this on the ground now? Would it take me back to my room?_ I placed the crystal on the step besides me and it began to move. It took me down the steps and eventually led me back to my room! _That's something very handy to remember when I get lost again._

I placed my books on the desk and changed into some night clothes for bed. After wiping what was left of my makeup and taking out bits of flowers which had fallen onto my hair during my lunch with the goblin king I put them in a nice pile on my dressing table. When I eventually went to bed I was greeted with a long slumber.

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Please rate, review criticism is always welcome! =D


	13. Chapter 13

**Hello everyone! I has returned! Monday I'm going back to school so my updates should actually be more regular and often (considering I have 2 free classes a week :D)**

**Enjoy!**

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I woke up the next morning with a plate of hot food waiting on my night table. _It mustn't have been here long if it is still warm. _I ate my breakfast and went about my usual morning routine with a bath. I decided with apple scented bubbles for the bath this morning. Once I was finished and dried off from my bath I found Daria waiting with some clothes already.

"Daria has your clothes ready for you Nicole" She said as I walked out of the bathroom.

"Thanks Daria, so what will I be wearing today?" I ask as she hands me a pair of tight pants and a dress.

"Kingy said that this would be suitable for what he wants to teach you today. Come on, got to tie up your corset."

"So corsets are an everyday thing here?" I ask.

"Yep, mostly." Daria answered.

Daria finished off lacing my corset and did my hair and makeup. She then left me to finish dressing myself. The dress was a darker brown colour with sleeves which went to the elbows with a diamond shaped neckline with two pockets. It was in general a very pretty dress; _I wonder what Jareth wants me to do today if I have to wear pants under my dress. _I put the crystal on the floor and waited for the crystal to take me into the right direction.

I followed the crystal to find the Goblin King leaning up against the wall eating an apple very nonchalantly.

"Good morning Jareth." I say with cheeriness.

"Good morning, it will probably be best to start off today's lesson outside. It would probably make this lesson easier."

"I guess you are not going to tell me what we are doing?"

"You'll see soon." He said with a smirk.

We walked outside down a gravel pathway for less than a minute before we reached our destination. We arrived at an old set of stables, like something one would read about in a Jane Austin book.

"Okay, now the pants make sense." I said.

"Well Nicole, pick a horse and when you're ready lead it outside and I will teach you how to harness a horse then we will go for a ride." He said as he walked over to one of the stables and led the horse out with a carrot.

"Okay, this shouldn't be too difficult." I said as I walked down the stables.

There weren't that many there, only eight stables and seven horses. I walked down the main walkway of the stables to see which horse was best. After walking around for a bit I was drawn to a dark brown, almost black horse. It didn't move back from me when I walked up to it, it actually walked towards me.

"Do you want to come with me?" I asked.

I put my hand just above its nose and it just felt right. I took her out of the stable without the use of a carrot but by just walking beside it. _I feel bad for calling it an 'it' but I down want to call it a her and it's a guy or vice versa. _The Goblin King was outside with all the equipment to harness the horse.

"I see you chose midnight, she's new and was just broken in. I had a feeling you would choose her." He said picking up a piece or two of equipment.

"That's your horse?" I said pointing to the horse he picked out. "Very fitting, matches your hair colour, always about style." I joked with a smile on my face.

"Hm? I didn't notice."

"Sure you didn't. Okay, so I'll be honest with you; this is going to be so much easier if I just copy what you do and if they names aren't necessary to learn I may not be able to remember them."

"Fine, just copy what I do." He said passing me a contraption.

I copied what he did and he passed me the right straps and helped me out when I wasn't doing something quite right. I learned a few important names, such as the saddle, the stirrups and the reins so if I had any problems whilst riding Jareth could verbally instruct me what to do. After what felt like an hour or so we were ready to go for a ride, I climbed up onto my horse with the help of Jareth I sat side saddle as to comply with what will be expected of me when riding with members of the court.

We first started riding at a slower pace so that I could get the jist of things before we began to speed up. Honestly for the first time riding a horse I don't think I'm doing too badly, if I say so myself.

After riding through some open fields, the surroundings began to change from peaceful meadows to that more consistent of creepy forests. Jareth still held the lead but we slowed down to walking pace. We kept going like this for a while as the forest began to get spookier and spookier. The sound of water was beginning to become audible when we stopped.

"We are here, one of the best kept secrets to outsiders in the Underground and a great place to come and think besides the gardens." Jareth said as he began to move a few stray branches from the path which prevented me from seeing what was on the other side.

A beautiful waterfall could be seen, it was not of a great size but more of a personal and enchanted like waterfall. There was some grass surrounding it and a few rocks which looked ideal for sitting and reading books on. The sun poked its head out between the trees as to not make it too bright for visitors. The trees bordered around the grass surrounding the pool of water created giving the location privacy. The true place to go when one wants to simply read or think without being disturbed.

"It's beautiful and so peaceful." I said in awe of the natural beauty around me.

The king had a rather amused smirk on his face. "Now, it probably goes without saying but..."

"Don't tell the Goblins?" I guessed looking over to him.

"Yes. Despite how much I am fond of my subjects, some peace from their drunken antics is needed every now and again."

"How did you find this place?"

"I shall answer your questions but first we should eat. This will also be your first etiquette lesson too; today I believe we shall cover casual dining and picnicking."

"Hurray for etiquette." I said sarcastically.

"This one will probably be the easiest of the dining lessons, so if I were you I would enjoy it whilst you can."

"You know if there weren't so many rules behind it, lessons on eating would be fun."

Jareth walked over to his horse to retrieve the picnic basket. He got out a large red blanket and placed it on the ground near some rocks which one could lean up against. We both sat down and Jareth fished around the basket to get two servings of caeser salad. We ate in silence and once we were finished I was passed a plate of what appeared to be lightly roasted chicken, mashed potatoes and a few snow peas.

"So you never did answer my question, how did you manage to find this place?"

"When Rowan and I were young we used to explore these woods, one day I stumbled upon then whilst looking for him when we were playing hide and seek. Those were some good days."

"Sounds like when Sarah and I used to go down to the park to play, it seems so silly now how we used to get all dressed up and carried away with our imaginations. My grandmother and Karen must have been worried something unbelievable when we arrived back home so late."

"So you and Sarah were good friends growing up?"

"Yeah, we were practically inseparable too. It all started when I moved in with my grandparents, she lived just a few houses down and we were the same age, things just clicked."

I looked down to grab a drink to see a goblet appear out of nowhere. It looked as if it was filled with wine.

"Is this wine?" I asked my host.

"Yes, a bottle from the castle cellars."

"Hm, where I come from it is not customary for people of my age to be drinking alcohol. Although I believe some would love to get their hands on some."

"But this is my kingdom; you may do as you please so long as it is either moral or ethical and does not produce a major mess. Besides, age does not determine the intelligence of a person and you have been proven to be rather intelligent for someone of your age."

"I'm going to have to be required to drink alcohol at some stage whilst I am here aren't I?"

"More likely at formal dinners and possibly at court and other situations, yes you may have to."

"I'm not going back to my world am I?"

"No," The Goblin king said not looking up from his plate.

"So I will never see my friends, family, and other people and things I used to know?"

"Here you will have everything you want; when you are introduced to court you will find a whole new world to become a part of. Think of all the good you would be doing here, the benefits that would help your people from the improvements to our system we make. You might even make a few friends in the process. Plus if my memory serves me correctly, you decided to take Sarah's place in the underground. You ran the Labyrinth gaining her freedom while you are to stay here forever."

Lost for words I decided to change the topic. "So you and Rowan grew up together?" I asked.

"Yes, he is the son of my father's advisor and has taken over the role of my advisor. We have formed an alliance as if we were brothers and I consider him as such. Probably similarly to you and Sarah. You know she caused quite a stir amongst my people when she ran the Labyrinth for Toby?"

I couldn't help but smirk; maybe I am spending too much time around the Goblin King. "I read about it, all her adventure with Hoggle, Ludo, Sir Didymus and the other members of your court. She is quite the resourceful one, never afraid to ask others for help and guidance. I guess that's how she managed to get through the Labyrinth under the 13 hours you originally allotted her."

"If she had of kept her comments in check she would not have been deducted time. You read about my Labyrinth?"

"Yes, she wrote about it as a part of the fictional work we were doing in English. I was going to write about science fiction and she showed me her story. Although I must ask, did you really drug her with a peach then waltzed around a crystal ball room?"

"Hogwart poisoned her with a peach with the properties to temporarily show someone their inner most dreams."

"Hmm and she made it sound like it unbearable. Although, no peaches for me thank you."

"Don't trust me, or your dreams?"

"Both."

"Sooner or later you are going to have to eat one." Jareth said pulling out a peach from the basket and taking a bite into it. "See, I'm fine."

"And who is to say that the next one you pull out will not have been affected?"

"You really don't trust me. Do you want this one?" He said with one eyebrow raised, the arm holding the peach outstretched towards me.

"No thank you, you bit into it already and besides who's to say that you are not immune?"

"Smart. Although I must say I don't need to look into a crystal to see that you want one."

"Apple perhaps? Or does your range of fruits all come contaminated with hallucinogens? How much can you see in those crystals of yours anyway?"

"So many questions, such a curious mind you have Nicole. Apples don't have the effects of certain kinds of peaches." He said tossing me an apple. "As for your other question, I can see any of my subjects at any time I wish, including you whenever you are not with your handmaid. So I must ask, how did Sarah portray me in that little story of hers?"

"I believe she classified you as a harsh ruler who will go to great lengths to keep anyone from defeating your Labyrinth in hopes to increase your population by turning unwanted children into your subjects."

"And what have you come to believe?"

"Sarah may not have been paying much attention to you as her thoughts were focused elsewhere in completing your Labyrinth, but I must say I don't know how you rule so I cannot comment on that. You did very little to stop me from completing the Labyrinth, I believe you even helped me. In the private manner of which I have gotten to know you, you have come across as a very logical person and very interesting conversation. But do you really turn unwanted children into Goblins?"

"No." Jareth looked side tracked for a moment, as if something in the distance was calling to him.

"What wrong?" I asked meekly.

"The Labyrinth, someone is going to make a wish soon. We have to get going."

I ran over to the horses and Jareth packed up the picnic with a wave of his hand. We made our way back to the castle, Jareth heading off in one direction and Daria lead me back to my room.


	14. Chapter 14

Lady: Hey everyone! See, I am updating on time. Don't touch that cake!

Gk: I wasn't going to touch the cake, although I must say precious, If you offered me a slice then I could stop the goblins from trying to jump up high enough to reach it.

Lady: Not going to happen Glitter King. Anyways, off topic but there is a carrot cake on the kitchen bar the goblins have been trying to reach since I got it out of the oven, you should have seen the looks on their faces when I offered them the beaters and other implements used to make the icing. Hilarious. Anyways Your royal glitteriness, I'm not afraid of the goblins getting the cake, its you I should be worried about.

Gk: How touching, you find it necessary to worry for me.

Lady: -Facepalm-

-While Lady of the Lily is facepalm-ing jareth cuts off a slice of the cake. She looks up to see him eating said cake-

lady: Oi! Stop eating the cake! Your making the Goblins Jealous and the cake feeds 10, if you hadn't noticed, there are more than 10 goblins so some are going to miss out. I'm not going to be cleaning up that mess.

Gk: What can I say, getting passed you defences is a piece of cake.

Sarah: STOP STEALING MY LINES! -humpf-

Lady: How about this slice! -magically gets icing pie and smacks it on his face-

Gk: You're going to pay for that.

Lady: -whilst running from an angry gk- I don't own the Labyrinth or anything related to the Labyrinth, if I did there would be changes to the story. I only own characters you do not recognize from the story.

Goblin: Enjoy!

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When we arrived at my room I took the crystal out of my dress pocket and placed it on my night table where I noticed there was now a beautiful multicolored stand for it. Daria stood over near the dressing table with a simple emerald green dress with a round peasant like collar and a ribbon around the waist. I took it off Daria and walked behind the changing screen. My predictions were right, a comfortable dress.

"So what's the go with all of this? I don't know what to do when someone else is running the Labyrinth."

"Nicole just sit in room, read a book, play with make-up, whatever you like. Kingy makes it so its day time till the runner gives up. I think you can even watch what is happening through that crystal." Daria said.

"Daria can you show me how to watch it through the crystal, and possibly make it bigger?"

"Sure, just say show me what is happening. Then press the crystal in your hands and think of the size you want it to be."

"Thanks Daria, hey could you grab me a bowl of apples and a knife?"

Daria ran out of the room and I walked over to the crystal, no harm in trying right?

"Show me what is happening." I brought the crystal to my eye to see Jareth and a younger man of possibly 20 or so. He was wearing a leather jacket with light blue faded jeans and what appears to be a plain white t-shirt underneath.

"I don't know what you're talking about man, it's not that far." The young man said with an attempt to keep up his cool façade.

"Its further than you think Johnny. All you have to do is take this crystal and all your dreams come true, just forget about the baby."

"Oh no man, I can't do that my girlfriend would kill me." Johnny replied pulling a cigarette from his pocket and into his mouth.

"Very well then, you have 13 hours in which to complete my Labyrinth or your baby becomes one of us forever."

I put the crystal into the palm of my hand and squashed it with the other thinking about the size I wanted it to be. In seconds it had morphed into a flat clear screen the size of a regular book cover, Jareth had just faded away but the clock remained. Johnny began to run down the hill, ditching his cigarette. I put down the screen as I heard the door fling open.

"Daria has your apples Nicole-y."

"Thank you. I'll call you if I need you. Oh, and Daria? When I have finished all my training and stuff to be a member of court, I promise you we can play dress ups and make-up."

The young gobliness ran out the room with a wide smile. I looked back to the screen to see the Labyrinth's new contender had reached a set of doors and was being attacked by fairies. He was beating on the door to get in, but the door wasn't going to let him in without a fight, or at least the right words.

"Let me get into the Labyrinth." He yelled and the door flung open. Just as quickly as it opened it was shut, leaving the fairies on the other side of the wall.

"Just a stupid wall, what is this?" He said kicking the wall, but what he didn't know was that the wall was not really a wall but an opening into the labyrinth which when he lost his balance left him freefalling down into a pitch black pit of nothingness.

The pitched black lighting (or lack thereof of light) stopped and a dirt room with three mattresses piled onto the floor cushioned his fall. It was lit up with torches and Johnny was beginning to get restless, his hair which looked like it had been combed every few minutes that weren't spent smoking was now a disheveled mess, his white shirt now had dirt smeared over it from the fall, he was beginning to panic like a mouse in a maze.

"In a bit of a pickle are we?" Jareth came into view.

"Hey man, this is not cool alright? Just give me back my kid and everything will be alright." He said looking through his pockets for something.

"Or what? I am king here, therefore what I say goes, it's a lovely little system. The offer still stands, I could let you sit in this oubliette for the next 12 hours and 10 minutes and you walk away with nothing or you could take the crystal and forget about the baby."

Johnny looked at him, thinking over the deal. After about a minute he spoke up. "All my dreams will come true, if I take that crystal right there in your hands?"

"Yes."

"Jeez, why didn't I just take the thing sooner?" He said walking over to the Goblin King and snatched the crystal out of his hands.

It wouldn't have been a few seconds later when disappeared with a pop. A news article flashed up onto the crystal screen that read:

_ "Johnny Witlock is the newest sensation with his new guitar style…"_

So just like that he gets to be a famous singer whilst a young mother is without her child and the baby will grow up in a life without parents, because that seems fair I thought to myself.

I picked up one of the books that I picked up from the castle's library about the history of Fae leaders and their kingdoms and grabbed an apple from the bowl. I laid the book on my lap and began to cut pieces of the apple off to eat. I was so engrossed in reading that I didn't hear the flutter of wings enter my room.

"Good to see you are researching my people."

"Good to see you like making grand entrances. I have a door; you don't need to go in through the window." I said looking up with a smile.

* * *

Gk: You never did tell me who the cake was for.

Lady: Good point, if I did you probably wouldn't have stolen a slice.

Gk: Unless it is Sarah I don't see how the mysterious cake receiver should change my views on my king tax on the cake.

Lady: King tax? You don't rule over this land and I don't believe anywhere a King can tax people not of his own land.

-Phantom of the Opera theme music starts playing-

Lady: See what you've done? He's not going to be happy with you after I tell him you took the slice of the cake.

Gk: -beginning to go pale- He doesn't scare me.

Lady: Judging my your pallid complexion, I find that hard to believe.

-Lady walks through the mirror with a cake, Jareth is finding excuses to keeps his hands at the level of his eyes by fixing up his hair.

Erik: Please tell Jareth thank you for sampling my cake, makes me certain those Goblins didn't try and poison it by 'helping'.

Goblin:** Please rate and review! **


	15. Chapter 15

A/N: Hey guys, sorry this is so late (well three days, anyways) Happy Leap Day! Please Review! =D

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Sunlight lazily seeped in through the curtains, beautiful. Drifting between conscious and unconscious is such a peaceful thing. Suddenly the curtains were violently ripped open the curtains. The light burned my eyes as what I would imagine would happen to a vampire caught in the sunlight.

"Come on Lady Nicole! Wake up, it's a bright day and kingy has another day of activities for you." Daria said in her usual morning cheery voice.

"No, I want to stay asleep." I childishly said whilst turning over to shield my face from the offending sunlight.

"Kingy would be unhappy and I think you would like kingy's choice of outfit for you today." Daria retorted and pulled down the bed sheets, the familiar warmth of a night's sleep was replaced by the cool air.

Seeing as I was fighting a losing battle, I rose from my slumber and walked over to the bowl on my dressing table. Daria quickly picked up the water jug from the basin and poured the contents into the basin. She put down the jug to the side of the basin then promptly returned to work or sorting out my bed. The splash of water really woke me up from the remaining hold slumber had over me, now to see what his royal secretive-ness has set up for me.

I walked over to the chair where Daria passed me a long-sleeved off white poet's shirt and a pair of dark brown, almost black pair of tights. I took off my nightgown and placed it on the chair neatly. After being a drama student for so many years I must admit I don't feel uncomfortable getting changed around other women, simply because there isn't time between costume changes to find privacy.

"No corset first?" I asked after putting on underwear and tights.

The gobliness sat me down on the chair in front of the dressing table and finished buttoning up my poet's shirt. Daria picked up a dark brown leather corset and said "No, kingy wants corset on top, easier making it easier to move around in.

Hmmm, I need to move and considering I'm lacking a massive skirt I'm assuming I'm not dancing unless they modernized it to something from my world. Hunting? I hope not.

"I'm sorry I haven't really been awake this morning, the sky last night was so beautiful." Whilst putting on my make-up, Daria just finished with my shoes and started to work on my hair.

Daria looks surprised but happy; I guess apologizing to goblins isn't a common thing. Daria pulled by hair back and set it in a bun. After that I got up from my chair to have a look at my reflection. I must admit, the outfit was a good choice fashion wise by the goblin king. The off-white poet's shirt matched contrasted well with the dark brown leather corset and tights. The boots top off the outfit, the dark brown knee high lace up boots had a one inch wedge heel and were very comfortable, comfortable to run and do a whole bunch of physically demanding exercises, even a fight if the situation required it.

Fighting, hmm fighting, something I hadn't thought of. But why would a lady with my position need to know how to fight? I am not a leader of nation or of a people, just an advisor to the court about how to get the people to believe and our ways. Considering what I know about the various kingdoms of the Underground women do not really need to know how to fight, unless it is to defend themselves.

So through that thinking, I guess I will not be fighting, hunting is looking like the most likely option right now. I forewent breakfast due to my generous sleep in and put down the crystal to lead me in the right direction. Forward, left, right, down three flights of stairs, left, right. I reached a door which was guarded by two suits of armor, their weapons crossed over the door to prevent people from entering, it looked very intimidating. The crystal stopped dead in its tracks in front of the door. I picked it up and a fog began to appear inside. Words began to appear:

'To those with good intentions,

Speak your purpose,

But be wary, the figures can decipher truth from lies.'

"I come here today in order to attend a class with his royal highness, the Goblin King. I am unaware of the subject he intends to teach." I announced with a shaking voice.

I looked back to the crystal to see if any more words would appear to tell me if I had been granted entry. I heard the shifting of metal and looked up scared, what if I said something wrong was the only thing going through my mind. I saw the suits of armor lift their swords and the door creaked open. I exhaled the small breath that I held in fear. I walked with a quick pace inside hoping that this wasn't some sort of trick, things are not what they seem to be around here and the same can be said with a gesture (even from suits of armor). I did not plan to be stranded in a hallway with two armed suits of armor to wait for a goblin to grant me access, or worse for the smug Goblin King to arrive.

The room was filled with weapons of all kinds, some of which I could name, but a majority I couldn't. Knives, Swords, tritons, guns (of the 17-19th century era, although mostly looking similar to that one would see in a pirate movie), maces, clubs, cross bows, bolts, arrows and so many more weapons decorated the wall. The room was completely windowless and lit by a medieval style chandelier hanging from the ceiling, there were lit candles scattered around the room but were probably unnecessary as there was already plenty of light.

Jareth was standing at the wall opposite if the door, wiping down a long sword. I saw my reflection in the blade and he put down both the emerald green cloth and the sword. He turned around to face me.

"So how do you like my armory?"

"Your variety of weapons are impressive and definitely do reach its goals of intimidation on people. I would definitely not want to be on the other end of the blows caused by these weapons. So are we hunting or fighting?"

"Today I will be teaching you the art of defense through archery and swordsmanship, both very important skills to know whether they will ever be put to use is up to the situation, but still an important skill none the less. I think it might be best if we start off with archery."

Jareth turned back to the table and picked up a bow and a bag or arrows. He passed me and put down the bag of arrows about 15 meters from the wall. When I turned to look I saw a massive colourful bull's-eye on the wall to my left.

"This here." He said pointing to the bag "Is called a quiver, obviously used to hold arrows and can be slung over your back."

His royal fancy pants turned around and picked up two dark brown gloves from the table. He held up one and said "This one is the brace; this one is longer to prevent the bow string from hitting your forearm. The thumb part of the glove is the only part which is fully covered to prevent you from cutting your thumb from the arrow which will not be a problem for you other fingers." He put it on my arm, adjusting the size with the laces on the side.

"This glove is used to protect your pointer finger and your middle finger from possible harm, you put this one on the hand which you will use to pull back the bow string." He put that glove on too, then took off both gloves.

"Now you try and put them on." I managed to put on one of the gloves, but had a few problems with the other one. It took me two goes to get it on right, the laces confused me.

The archery lesson continued on as like 'monkey see, monkey do' exercise. After a few practices of pulling back the bow string and making sure I was in the right stance I was ready for my first arrow. I pulled an arrow from the quiver and put it up against the middle of the bow. I pulled back using my pointer and middle finger whilst using my thumb to keep it steady. I lined it up with my target and held my breath, which was only released as I released the arrow from my grip.

The arrow flew through the air at a rapid pace, unfortunately not hitting the red bull's eye but getting close. It was really quite fun. After I finished celebrating my good first shot, I had a few more goes until I ran out of arrows in my quiver. The consequences of skipping breakfast were beginning to take a toll on my stomach as it began to growl. About a minute or two later we stopped for lunch.

A young goblin walked in with two trays of food.

* * *

So allow me to explain as to why this chapter is late. I discovered Sherlock, the t.v series. Anyway, just to give you guys a heads up, half of chapter 16 has been written and half of chapter 17 has been written, why am I so behind? Because my teachers have decided to give us assessment tasks and I have joined the debating team and I wrote a poem for a competition. So yeah, when everything calms down a little more, more stuff should be posted and more often.

Please rate and review! 3


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